Amaravati, Feb 15 (IANS) JSW Group will build a steel plant in Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Kadapa district with an investment of Rs 8,800 crore.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation stone for the Kadapa Steel Plant (KSP) at Sunnapuralla palle on Wednesday.
JSW Group would build the 3-D model green steel plant in two phases. The first phase of the KSP involving an investment of Rs 3,300 crore and having an annual production capacity of 10 lakh tons will be commissioned in 24 to 30 months and in the second phase, the production capacity of the plant will be enhanced by 20 lakh tons with an additional investment of Rs 5,500 crore.
The plant, coming up on 3500-acre leased land, will provide direct and indirect employment to 25,000 persons.
Along with JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal, the Chief Minister broke the customary coconut and lit the traditional lamp.
He thanked Jindal for coming forward to establish the green steel plant here and also giving confidence on the future development of the area which was neglected for several years after the death of his father and former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
Expressing hope that the steel plant would gradually change the face of the district with more industries like green hydrogen and solar pumps manufacturing units expected to come up in the surroundings in near future, he said 75 per cent of the jobs in the industry will go to the locals as per the law enacted by the State.
He said the area, despite its shortcomings, will march ahead with the JSW Group, which has so far invested Rs 1.7 lakh crore the world over, coming forward to set up the steel plant.
Describing the Kadapa Steel Plant as the long cherished dream of the people in the district, the Chief Minister said the surroundings of places where steel plants are established would generally develop with ancillary units and hoped the area would develop like Vijayanagar in Karnataka and Visakhapatnam.
The government has allotted Rs 700 crore to provide infrastructure like roads, water and power supply to the steel plant and this would also result in the development of surrounding areas, he said.
Jagan Mohan Reddy noted that the state achieved first rank in the Ease of Doing business (EoDB) besides achieving a growth rate of 11.43 per cent in 2021-22 and becoming the fastest growing state in the country. He said that it speaks volumes of its commitment for the development of industries.
He further said that the electronic cluster coming up in the 550-acre Kopparthi mega industrial park in the district will provide employment to thousands of people. Jagananna Industrial Hub will attract investments worth Rs 18,000 crore in the near future.
Jindal said that the Kadapa Steel Plant would be the greenest steel plant in the world and fuel growth in the area in the days to come.
–IANS
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