A fairly good job by Jagan govt

SEELAM AROZIE
Vijayawada

The Opposition’s bitter criticism that development has come to a grinding halt in Andhra Pradesh notwithstanding, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government seems to have done a fairly good job.

A cursory glance at the official figures of investments roped into the State during the last three-and-a-half years shows the brighter side of the development story. For, Rs 1,96,807.07 crore investment by 50 mega-companies with committed employment of 1,48,303 is no ordinary achievement.

Apollo Tyres, USG Boral, Hero Motors, Foxlink India, Ramco Cements, Panasonic, Century Ply, Dixon Technologies, Aditya Birla Garments Ltd, APACHE Group, ATC Tires, Saint Gobain, JSW Group and, Adani groups were the major companies that came forward to invest in Andhra Pradesh.

Trying to wriggle out of bifurcation woes, Andhra Pradesh has had its share of drawbacks in steering itself on the path of progress. Before 2014, AP was a power-surplus State and subsequently, in a role reversal of sorts, it slipped to become a power-deficit State. With this, it failed to attract investors initially. Another drawback was its poor connectivity. Besides, the unfulfilled promise of the Special Category Status to the State at the time of bifurcation proved to be its nemesis.

In the subsequent days, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has succeeded in convincing the investors to come to the State promising quality infrastructuralfacilities. His strategy paid off and the Government of AP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adani Green Energy for Rs 60,000 crore investment.

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took special efforts in 2022 to rope in mega investments by participating in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in May. Adopting a strategy to develop Visakhapatnam as technology hub with emphasis on Artificial Intelligence, he sought investments to realize his goal in that sector. Significantly, Executive Vice-President of Dassault Systems Florence Verzelen interacted with him at the WEF meet. According to official sources, MoUs worth Rs 1.25 lakh were said to have been exchanged at Davos.

According to official estimates, whopping investments of Rs 40,361 crore were roped in in the first seven months of 2022. No wonder then that AP topped the charts out of the total of Rs 1,71,285 crore in the country. However, in terms of commercial production, the State is lagging behind.

According to sources in the State Industries Department, industrial projects set upat a cost of Rs Rs 6,173 crore did begin to deliver. Renewable energy projects are coming up at 29 locations in the State.

Laying emphasis on development the coastline of 972 km in the State, construction of three more ports and nine fishing harbours has been taken up. In addition to this,more accent is being laid on aquaculture. Steps have been taken up to set up Aquaculture University in West Godavari district.

Besides, the State government is also taking steps to develop agriculture with innovative measures like introducing modern farming methods.

As recently as on December 12, the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB), headed by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, has given its nod for an investments of Rs 23,985 crore in the State.

The SIPB gave its nod for JSW Steel Limited’s proposal to set up a steel plant in Kadapa at a cost of Rs 8,800 crore and for pumped hydro storage projects to be set up by Adani Green Energy Limited and Shirdi Sai Electricals.

JSW Steel Limited will invest Rs 8,800 crore in two phases for setting up the steel plant in Sunnapurallapalli village in Kadapa district.

In the first phase, Rs 3,300 crore will be invested by the Company and one million tonnes of steel will be produced in the first year, will upgrade to two million tons in the second and will reach three million ton mark soon.

JSW Group, a 22 billion dollar entity engaged in steel, energy, manufacturing, cement and painting, is producing 27 million tonnes of steel annually. JSW has factories in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

The Board approved 1,600 MW pumped hydro storage power project. Adani Green Energy Limited will invest Rs 6,330 crores providing direct employment to over 4,000 people.

The company will set up a 1,000 MW plant in Pedakota of Alluri Sitarama Raju district and a 600 MW plant at Raiwada in Anakapalli and Vizianagaram districts. The project is proposed to commence work in December 2024.