Andhra Pradesh CM exhorts industries to invest in state

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who completed one year in office this month, on Thursday appealed to more industries to invest in the state and promised that there will not be any hurdles in setting up their business.

Interacting with senior officials of the industries here, the CM said the state government is ready to provide adequate land, water, energy and a skilled workforce for establishing the business.

Already, 1,600 acres of land has been allocated to 1,466 new companies -- of which nearly 23 prominent business houses -- that have shown interest in starting their ventures in the state, an official statement said quoting CM having said during the interaction.

Reddy informed industries that there are investment opportunities in the areas of infrastructure development, steel, and agriculture and allied sectors in the state, which has a long coastline of 972 km besides good rail and road connectivity, four ports and six airports.

"We are open to ideas and appeal to the industrialists to walk with me to cross the bridge as there would be no hurdles," he said.

"What we promise, we will deliver and we have proactive and corruption free governance as we have set up a Judicial Preview Commission which will scrutinise big-ticket tenders and we have also taken up reverse tendering to infuse competition among the competitors. We will give a chance to others if they can quote a lower rate than the one selected," he added.

He, however, admitted that there was a "slag" in major industries coming in. "There should be some rethinking on the investments in major industries and a strategy has to be worked out as we find ourselves a prance behind," Reddy noted.

In the one-year rule of the YSRCP government, the chief minister said that as many as 13,122 new MSME units have come. About 34,322 jobs in 39 major and medium industries were created.

Three more ports would be coming up at Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam, and Bhavanpadu and fishing harbours would be set up at 8 places and Kadapa Steel Plant is coming up with an investment of Rs 15,000 crore with a capacity of 2.5 million tonnes for which the state is looking for joint venture partners, he added.

The CM further said the Bhogapuram international airport, Metro Rail, Advanced Skill Development Centre with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other high-end courses would be available. That apart, there is no power shortage in the state, which has a solid banking network and law and order, he added.