Steel minister okays iron ore supply to Andhra for greenfield steel project

NMDC to soon sign an MoU with Andhra govt for ore linkage; steel minister Pradhan hints at huge petroleum investments in state, say players want to park as much as Rs 2 trn in the east coast

Union Minister for Petroleum and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has assured the Andhra Pradesh government of iron ore linkage for the proposed steel plant in chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's home district Kadapa.

Pradhan, who met chief minister Reddy at Amaravati on Friday, responded positively to the latter's request. Public sector iron ore miner NMDC would soon sign an MoU with the state government for the iron ore supply, chief minister's office said.

During the meeting, Reddy also requested Pradhan to consider setting up of a greenfield refinery at Kakinada through the public sector oil companies, as mentioned in the State Reorganisation Act. He also wanted the Centre share the royalty collected from the oil companies equally with the state, stating that oil and gas exploration activities have been posing various environmental risks besides depleting the fish population in the state.

Pradhan said AP was likely to get huge petroleum investments as several big players were looking to invest as much as Rs two trillion in the east coast during the next five years.