Centre to supply Iron ore for Kadapa Steel Plant

Union minister for petroleum, natural resources and steel Dharmendra Pradhan responded positively to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s request for the supply of iron ore from NMDC to the proposed steel plant at YSR Kadapa district.

According to a press release here on Friday, the union minister said that the state would get Rs 2 lakh crore investments in the next five years while world leaders in petroleum sector were willing to invest in the east coast.

The quantum of investments would increase through setting up of Kadapa Steel Plant, expansion projects in Visakhapatnam and by setting up of Petro complex at Kakinada. He said that Andhra Pradesh has an open mind on industrialisation.

The union minister revealed that the Centre was ready to supply iron ore to the proposed steel plant. The state government and the NMDC would sign an agreement in this regard very soon, he said during a meeting at the Secretariat here on Friday which was attended by the state and central government officials.

In response to the state government's request to expedite payment of Rs 81 crore to 16,554 fishermen of Bhairavapalem village in East Godavari district who were affected by the off-shore drilling by the ONGC Limited, the union minister directed the ONGC officials to clear the compensation immediately.

The Chief Minister also sought an equal share of the royalty collected by the union government from oil and gas companies as the establishments pose various environmental risks and also cause depletion of the fish population.

The Chief Minister requested the Union Minister to set up a greenfield crude oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Kakinada as mentioned in Section 93 (4) of AP Reorganisation Act-204. He also asked for setting up of a Petroleum University in Kakinada as skilled manpower is required for the upcoming major project of KG-DWN 98/2 of the ONGC.