Laying the foundation stone for the proposed green steel plant at Sunnapurapalle village of YSR Kadapa district with investments to the tune of Rs 8,800 crore in three phases Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday said the plant along with the ancillary units will transform the entire backward district of Rayalaseema.

The JSW Group chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal assured that though the steel plant will now be a small unit, in coming days it will blossom enough to change the Kadapa district into a steel district of the country.

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The steel plant in Kadapa has been a long standing one and was also promised in the AP Reorganisation Act. But after the Centre did not proceed further with the steel plant the state government has been trying to find private investors for the project.

“Once the steel plant is set up there will be an ecosystem developed with several ancillary units. Once the ecosystem is created then the entire area would be transformed into a steel city,” said Reddy, who has been stung by criticism that the state was losing out on industrialisation.

The chief minister then went out to woo Sajjan Jindal to come up with more projects to about Rs 30,000 crore.

“This is one particular area that is one of the most backward areas and this kind of investment would change the face of this district itself,” he said while thanking Jindal for investing Rs8,800 crore.

“I am hopeful this will not just stop here but it would move on to green hydrogen, solar and wind pump storage projects which could translate to a much bigger investment number, probably Rs 30,000 crore and for that we would push and give you confidence to invest much more,” said Reddy reminding Jindal that AP has consistently ranked number one in the Ease of Doing Business.

The plant will be set up on 3500 acres of land and will provide direct and indirect employment to 25,000 people. Locals will get 75 per cent of the jobs in the steel plant. The state government has allotted Rs700 crore to provide infrastructure like roads, water supply and power to the plant.

Jindal cited the Bellary steel plant which started out with a capacity of 1.20 million ton per annum, the same as the one that would come up in Kadapa but has now reached to 13 million ton. “The foundation stone that we are putting up in Kadapa today is not only for the steel plant. It is the foundation stone for the district of Kadapa and I can promise you over the years this place will blossom and will be known as the steel district of India,” he added.

Initially, JSW will invest 3300 crore for the steel plant of one million ton capacity which will be upgraded to two million ton in second phase and then to three million ton.

Meanwhile, the TDP mocked the foundation stone laying ceremony with memes saying that this is the second time the chief minister has conducted a foundation stone laying programme for the same project.