VIJAYAWADA: The Union government has agreed to establish a petrochemical corridor with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh.
The minister for industries, Mekapati Gowtham Reddy, called on the Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, and took up the issue with him. Later, he said that they gave a presentation on the petrochemical corridor and explained the project in detail and that the Centre agreed to the project.
Gowtham Reddy said that in line with the provisions of Section 93(4) of AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, IOC or HPCL shall, within six months from the appointed day, examine the feasibility of establishing a greenfield crude oil refinery and petrochemical complex in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh and take an expeditious decision thereon.
Accordingly, feasibility for establishing 1 MMTPA (one million metric tonnes per annum) cracker complex at Kakinada with an investment of Rs 32,900 crore by the consortium HPCL-GAIL has been carried out and it sought the support of the Government of Andhra Pradesh in terms of viability gap funding for the project.
The minister said that on June 10, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy met Dharmendra Pradhan and requested for the support of GoI in taking forward the strategic project. He said that the project will place the state in a strong position to contribute to Prime Minister’s vision of $ 5 trillion economy by 2024, as being an anchor unit to the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) proposed by the Centre to promote investments and industries in these sectors. He said that the Union minister responded positively and promised to extend all support in taking forward the project.
Gowtham Reddy said that their team also had a detailed discussion with the Union minister on the establishment of a petrochemical cracker complex in Andhra Pradesh by the HPCL-GAIL consortium, given the recent regulatory changes. He said that as a result of the discussions, a working group has been constituted under the chairmanship of joint secretary (refineries), ministry of petroleum and natural gas, with the state government officials. Engineers India Limited and SBI Caps are advised to re-work the financials in view of the recent regulatory changes in corporate tax and interest rates to take forward the strategic project in Andhra Pradesh without any viability gap funding.
Gowtham Reddy said this project would provide employment to 50 lakh persons and investments to the tune of Rs 25,000-30,000 crore would flow into the petrochemical sector in the coming two or three years. He said that recently the Union government increased use of ethanol to 20 per cent in petrol which would attract more investments in the coming days. He informed that AP provided 45,000 employment opportunities amidst the pandemic Corona crisis.
Besides Gowtham Reddy, chief secretary Aditya Nath Das and special chief secretary (industries and commerce) R. Karikal Valaven participated in the meeting with Dharmendra Pradhan and Tarun Kapoor, secretary, petroleum and natural gas, and other officials.
