The Andhra Pradesh government has invited South Korean major POSCO to set up its greenfield integrated steel plant in SPS Nellore district and promised to extend fiscal and non-fiscal incentives over and above those stipulated in the state Industrial Policy 2020-23.
The state government’s invitation to POSCO comes at a time when Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is under attack from the opposition parties for colluding with the Union government in the effort to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP).
The opposition parties have been alleging that the CM struck a deal with POSCO to hand over the VSP on a platter, even as Jagan came out with a rebuttal saying he has, in fact, invited the South Korean company to set up a new steel plant in the state and suggested three different locations.
POSCO officials already conferred with the Chief Minister over the issue. POSCO India CMD Sung Lae Chun and his team visited Krishnapatnam early this month to identify a prospective site for the integrated steel plant.
In this backdrop, state Special Chief Secretary (Industries and Investment) R Karikal Valaven wrote a letter to Chun inviting the POSCO delegation from its Seoul headquarters to confirm its proposal for setting up the plant at the identified location.
"The AP government envisages that the steel plant at Krishnapatnam will be an anchor industry in driving the economic activity in the region and the state will support POSCO to the best of its efforts," Valaven said.
He said Krishnapatnam was one of the largest automated ports in South Asia, with a deep draft capable of handling Capesize and Panamax vessels. "Developing an integrated steel plant right beside a world-class port offers multiple logistical advantages, considering high volume imports and exports arising out of the operations.
The state government will be willing to consider further support in the form of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives based on specific requests in line with the volume of investment and employment opportunities and subsidiary industrial growth," the Special Chief Secretary assured.
The senior bureaucrat also said that the Andhra Pradesh government envisages that the steel plant at Krishnapatnam would drive economic activity in the region and the state. The letter also stated that the government would be willing to consider further support in forwarding the project while inviting the delegation from the POSCO headquarters in Seoul of South Korea.