Centre showers projects on AP at Partnership Summit

Fertiliser minister announces greenfield petrochem complex, medical device park; State signs MoUs worth Rs 4.7 lakh cr

Union Minister for Chemicals And Fertilisers Ananth Kumar on Tuesday announced several large-scale projects, including a greenfield petrochemical complex in Andhra Pradesh. The minister, who participated in the closing ceremony of the three-day CII Partnership Summit in Visakhapatnam, said his ministry would consider setting up a National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Vizag.

“On behalf of the Centre, I am making in-principle announcement that HPCL and GAIL together would establish a greenfield petrochemical complex in Andhra Pradesh. This will also bring huge downstream investment opportunities to the state apart from refinery and cracker units,” Ananth Kumar told the cheering audience.

The project is in addition to the ongoing brownfield expansion of HPCL refinery at Visakhapatnam, and would be set up at a different location in the state, the minister said.

Expansion of refinery entails an investment of Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 crore, while establishment of a petrochemical complex would mean additional investment of more than Rs 25,000 crore. Last year, the AP government requested the Centre to establish a greenfield petrochemical complex near Machilipatnam in Krishna district.

A medical devices manufacturing park, which is expected to attract Rs 20,000 crore, would also be set up. This is second such facility in the country after Gujarat. Ananth Kumar praised N Chandrababu Naidu as the “Sunrise Chief Minister of the Sunrise State”.

Apart from these large projects, the Union minister also announced a National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Niper) at a cost of Rs 600 crore in Visakhapatnam. The plastic engineering institute at Vijayawada would be upgraded, he added. The engineering institute will offer BTech and MTech courses with 5,000-seat capacity, compared with the existing strength of 200 students.

<b>MoUs worth Rs 4.7 lakh crore in 3 days</b>

Investors’ interest in the CII Partnership Summit, first to be held in AP after bifurcation, exceeded expectations of the state government.

“We were hesitant to host this event in the beginning as we were still navigating the problems of bifurcation,” CM Naidu told reporters. He said 328 MoUs committing investments worth Rs 4.7 lakh crore were signed at the three-day event. “The investments if realised may result in creating 10 lakh jobs,” he said.

“I want to serve the people of Andhra Pradesh by bringing inclusive growth to the state. As Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said about the tools of economic development, I too am interested in a cat that catches the mouse. I am not bothered about its colour,” he added.

Naidu said the CII should hold an event similar to the World Economic Forum of Davos at Visakhapatnam in collaboration with the state government.

<b>Other investments</b>

On the final day, Subhash Chandra-owned Essel group announced large investments for two projects in the state. According to the MoU, Essel would set up a large solar panels manufacturing facility and a smart industrial city involving investments of Rs 13,000 crore.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who was also present for the concluding ceremony, said the Centre has agreed to develop three airports in Andhra Pradesh at Visakhapatnam, Nellore and Kurnool.

Officials said during the summit, the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, inked an MoU with Andhra Pradesh government for expanding the capacity other works with an investment outlay of Rs 38,500 crore.

The Andhra Pradesh government also signed two MoUs with State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) and Sany Group of China for setting up power projects of 5,000 MW involving $4.8 billion.

According to a senior official of the state government, over 165 MoUs were signed in areas of industry and food processing.