Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy concluded his two-day visit to New Delhi after meeting with Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy had called Union Interior Minister Amit Shah and Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog Rajiv Kumar on Thursday in which the Chief Minister raised several key issues, including the decision to decentralize administration through three capitals in the state.
During the meeting with Mr. Pradhan, the CM raised the issues related to the petrocomplex in Kakinada and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy recalled that the construction of a petro complex in Kakinada was one of the items in the AP Reorganization Act-2014 and a DPR of the complex was created by HPCL and GAIL with a capacity of one million metric tons at a cost of 32,900 crore. The center had asked the state to provide 975 billion yen over a 15-year period as part of funding the profitability gap.
“At this point in time, our state government would not be able to bear such high costs and we have nominated members for the state government’s working group. We urge the Union Minister to start talks on the project. With the center cutting corporate tax “25% and interest rates have fallen globally, the project can start without funding through a profitability gap,” said Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Mr. Pradhan assured that the center would build the petrocomplex in the state and responded positively to the CM’s appeal for funding the profitability gap. The minister also said he would schedule a meeting of secretaries next week and finalize the guidelines.
The Prime Minister also raised the issue of privatizing the Visakhapatnam steel mill as more than 20,000 employees depend on it. More than 30 people lost their lives during the agitation for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and in the years 2002-2015 the Steel Plant made remarkable progress. The steel mill covers 19,700 acres and the land is worth more than ₹ 1 lakh crore.
However, since 2014, revenues have declined as management borrowed huge sums of money to expand, a downturn in the global steel industry and the lack of its own mines have resulted in a sharp decline in the steel mill’s assets.
“For these reasons, the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant with an actual capacity of 7.3 million tons is currently working with a capacity of 6.3 million tons, but since December 2020 it has been making profits of up to cro200 crore per month. The steel mill is also raw material from NMDC for 5,260 yen per ton, adding an additional cost of 3,472 billion yen. So we are calling for the Odisha state’s own mines to be allocated to VSP. I also call on the minister to convert the huge loans into equity and provide an opportunity for the steel mill to be listed on the stock exchange, ” said Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy.