Back from Davos, Andhra CM Naidu says globally renowned companies ready to invest in state

Naidu said he met almost all the heads of companies like civil aviation, petroleum gas, PepsiCo, Walmart and several others and invited them to invest in the state.

Hyderabad: Stating that Andhra Pradesh, which was totally destroyed, is being brought back on track, the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, on Saturday announced that various globally renowned companies are going to invest in the state.

"We are going to transform Andhra Pradesh into a haven for investments and are moving ahead with the sole aim of attracting Rs 10 lakh crore investments in green energy along with green hydrogen," Naidu told media persons in Amaravati giving details of his Davos visit. Maintaining that Davos is nothing new to him, the Chief Minister said that it is he who has taken the decision first in the whole country to visit Davos.

"I became the Chief Minister in 1995 and since 1997 I have been continuously visiting Davos. Initially, we have faced some problems as when we mentioned Hyderabad they used to ask us which Hyderabad. Is it in Pakistan. When asked to invest in Hyderabad they used to ask us how to reach that place and this was the situation then," Naidu said.

Observing that while he has promoted Hyderabad, the then Karnataka chief minister, SM Krishna, used to promote Bengaluru, Naidu recalled. "The Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, mentioned to me during my recent visit to Davos that I had once promoted Hyderabad and now promoting Andhra Pradesh," the Chief Minister noted.

Making it clear that after becoming the Chief Minister for fourth term he is now promoting 'AP Brand' across the globe, he said that he is clearly explaining to everyone the opportunities and the advantages available in the state for investing and to set up their industries. Informing that he has taken part in 27 meetings in Davos while the Ministers, Lokesh and Bharat, participated in 33 meetings, Naid said that he along with the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Telangana, addressed a session on energy and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

As Andhra Pradesh has a wide coastline, the Chief Minister made it clear that now the focus is on how to make use of this. He expressed confidence that heavy investments are going to be made in the State and said that this time everyone in Davos discussed only green energy, green hydrogen, nature farming, AI and deeptech.

Davos is a place where the heads of all the corporate companies from across the globe gather, the Chief Minister said and added that he has met almost all the heads of companies like civil aviation, petroleum gas, PepsiCo, Walmart and several others and invited them to invest in the state. "We have clearly explained to them the opportunities available here and asked them to invest in all parts of the state, including Amaravati," he maintained.

Naidu announced that BPCL is going to set up its petro-chemical complex at Ramayapatnam with an investment of Rs 96,000 crore and a steel plant is being established near Anakapalle with Rs 1.35 lakh crore. Similarly, NTPC is going to generate green hydrogen with an investment of Rs 1.87 lakh crore and green ammonia is being produced from Kakinada as Rs 10 lakh crore is going to be invested into green energy.

Maintaining that the destruction caused in five years could be reversed in just seven months and record progress also has been achieved, the Chief Minister said that plans are afoot to transform the state into a petro hub. Naidu believed that if Google comes to the state it will be a gamechanger and that he spoke to the Google head in Davos.

Similarly, Visakhapatnam will witness an IT revolution once the TCS establishes its unit there which will create 10,000 jobs, the Chief Minister said and made it clear that the state is moving forward with the cooperation from the Centre. Works in Amaravati are moving at a fast pace, he said and stated that a target has been set to complete Polavaram by 2047.