Andhra pitches for petro investment region

Andhra Pradesh has emerged as one of the frontrunner states for the proposed Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIR) with close to 30,000 acres of land already available on its coastline for the purpose.

While the three ports and the two big anchor clients, ONGC and HPCL, present in the proposed PCPIR between Rajamhundry and Visakhapatnam make the state an attractive destination for investments in this sector, the hassle-free land acquisition has turned out be its biggest advantage, post Nandigram violence.

The state government is now pitching for the PCPIR while highlighting the readily available land in contrast to other states which have also been trying to get one.

"Going by the advantages in terms of land, ports and already cleared SEZs, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are going to host the first two PCPIRs of the country," BP Acharya, chairman and managing director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), told Business Standard.

With the Centre's policy on these regions already out, the APIIC is planning to formally apply for the sanction of a PCPIR to the state in the next ten days.

According to Acharya, the Centre would extend Rs 1,000 crore grant for the development of infrastructure in the proposed PCPIR.

APIIC has already made an investment of Rs 500 crore in basic infrastructure such as water supply system with 150 million litres per day (MLD) capacity and has proposed to lay a parallel pipeline with another 100 MLD capacity from river Godavari exclusively for the PCPIR.

With such advantages, the state government seems not much worried over the two of its neighbouring states, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, joining the race for the PCPIRs.

"The Government of India wants to see at least 4-5 such regions coming up in the country owing to the investment potential available globally in the petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals sector. However, Dahej in Gujarat and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh are possibly going to be the first two PCPIRs of the country," Acharya, who has just returned from Delhi after presenting the state's case before the central officials said.

While all other states, which are vying for the PCPIR, have been visiting Delhi to present their respective cases, West Bengal, which was seen as a direct competition to Andhra's bid, is yet to make up its mind in this regard.

Over 35,000 acres of land across 141 square km area has been earmarked for the proposed PCPIR of which 25,000 acres is located near Visakhapatnam and the remaining 10,000 acres is near Rajamhundry. Of this, nearly 30,000 acres has already been acquired, which include the Vizag SEZ, Gangavaram port land and the Rajamhundry SEZ.

The APIIC has proposed three PCPIR zones in this area. While Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has already announced plans to invest over 20,000 crore for the proposed expansion-cum-greenfield refinery project at Vizag, ONGC is considering a proposal to set up a 15-million tonne capacity refinery at Rajamhundry with an investment of close to Rs 20,000 crore.