Economic slowdown, denial of benefits under the Special Category Status and demonetisation have not only hit the productivity of various industries but also cast its shadow on investment proposals made to give a fillip to industrialisation in North Andhra — the main economic hub of Sunrise Andhra Pradesh.
Nothing much was there to cheer during 2016. Several mega investments proposed in the region to propel growth have not taken place except going on stream by 1,040 MW power plant by the Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd (HNPCL) at Palavalasa involving an investment of over Rs. 6,000 crore and commissioning of India’s first underground rock cavern by the Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd at a cost of Rs.1,178 crore. The cavern stores crude as buffer for evacuation in case of emergency situation.
Orders for advance possession of land for a nuclear power plant being set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd at Kovvada in Srikakulam were issued recently. The public hearing for the project envisaged with an investment of Rs.1 lakh crore will be held sometime next year.
The HPCL has started work on the Visakh Refinery Modernisation Project following clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests at Rs.20,928 crore at the later part of the year. The company has set a 48-month deadline to complete expanding capacity from 8.33 million tonne to 15 million tonne.
AP largest investment project post-bifurcation — the Rs. 26,828-crore 4,000 MW power plant at Pudimadaka by the NTPC — has remained a non-starter following the decision by the Centre to generate power only with domestic coal. the NTPC is awaiting finalisation of policy on coal block allotment to commence work. The much hyped Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor with sanction of $625 million from the Asian Development Bank and $215 million from the State government through the Centre and other sources is yet to take off.
The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited was hit hard due to flooding of cheap steel from China and other countries in the domestic market and prolonged slump in the market. Demonetisation dealing a body blow to realty sector, there is a lull in construction. The port sector also suffered with most of their capacity underutilised due to industrial slump.
Investors bat for incentives
“Special tag would have raised the investors’ sentiments but now it is no more an issue as the Centre has pledged a special package for us. The year was bad for the entire country and we are no exception,” CII-A.P. chairman G.S. Shiv Kumar told The Hindu .
He pointed out that Sunrise AP had a bright future with the district administration and the APIIC putting realisation of MoUs signed at last Partnership Summit at 40 per cent — which is a positive sign for growth to gain momentum in the coming years.
Mr. Shiv Kumar, who is the CEO of Maple Software, said the World Bank putting A.P. and Telangana on top among all the States in ease of doing business during current year would also send positive signals to investors and hoped that the slew of incentives in the special package pledged by the Centre would ensure accelerated growth in the backward areas of the State.
“The speed with which Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is working is conspicuous by its absence at the field-level. I strongly feel that our realisation from Rs.4.86 lakh crore investment proposals made at the CII Partnership Summit would have been more had the Industries Department officials worked with aggression to chase the investors to execute the commitments made by them,” AP Chamber of Commerce & Industry Federation president G. Sambasiva Rao said.
