Naidu, HDK to Do Puja for ArcelorMittal Steel Plant at Rajayyapeta on Monday

Vijayawada:Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, along with the Union Steel and Heavy Industries minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, will perform the “Bhoomi Puja” for ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India’s Greenfield Integrated Steel Plant being set up at a cost of ₹1.35 lakh crore at Rajayyapeta in Nakkapalli mandal of Anakapalli district on Monday, March 23.

With a capacity of 17.8 million metric tonnes, the project will come up in two stages over 5,465 acres, with direct and indirect potential of employing one lakh persons. In the first phase, the plant will produce 7.3 million metric tonnes of steel, while producing 10.5 million metric tonnes of steel in the second phase.

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AM/NS) India is also setting up in the area a captive port with a capacity of 50 million metric tonnes spread over 316 acres at an estimated cost of ₹11,198 crore, with a job potential for 6,000 people.

With the setting up of the Greenfield Integrated Steel Plant, Visakha economic region would become a major industrial hub. Once completed, the AM/NS India steel plant will play a major role in the Indian steel market.

AP government is extending all support for completion of the project in an expeditious manner. It is providing basic amenities like water and power, apart from a four-lane road connecting the steel plant to NH-16.

Those taking part in the Bhoomi Puja, apart from Naidu and Kumaraswamy, include Union minister of state for Steel Bhupatiraju Srinivasa Varma, Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan, education minister N. Lokesh, ArcelorMittal executive chairman Lakshmi Mittal, and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India chairman Aditya Mittal.

The AP Chief Minister is expected to reach Rajayyapeta from Amaravati by a helicopter at 3:40 pm. He will visit the Experience Zone and take a look at a model of the steel plant.