After laying the foundation stone for Amaravati, the capital of Navya Andhra Pradesh, all eyes are focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Visakhapatnam -- dates for which are likely to be finalised after the Bihar elections.
With the ruling coalition under attack from all quarters for Prime Minister’s failure to announce special category status or special package to the State at the capital foundation ceremony, it is expected that he may make specific declaration. There is also a talk that the Prime Minister might choose a public meeting in the city to make such an announcement to capitalise on the goodwill to be generated in support of his party. Sources say in all likelihood the visit might materialise sometime in November or December.
RINL project
As of now, there is no indication from the Prime Minister’s Office on the probable dates. His scheduled visit to the city in July was cancelled at the eleventh hour. He was supposed to inaugurate the 6.3-million tonne expansion project of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, which was completed with internal accruals at a cost of Rs.12,400 crore. A helipad has also been created at Ukkunagaram to receive the Prime Minister.
India’s first underground cavern for storage of petroleum reserves was also included in his schedule for commissioning. Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited, the special purpose vehicle, has completed work on cavern with a capacity of 1.33 million tonne at a cost of Rs.1178 crore.
“We have already received four Very Large Crude Carriers and our storage capacity is already full,” a senior official of ISPRL told The Hindu .
Besides the RINL and ISPRL events, now the Prime Minister has also been approached to dedicate the 1,040 MW coal-fired power plant of Hinduja National Power Corporation Limited at Palavalasa. The timeline for commissioning the plant got revised due to damage caused by Cyclone Hudhud. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited has supplied the boiler and electrostatic precipitators for the plant located near the sea.
India’s first underground cavern for storage of petroleum reserves has been included in his schedule for commissioning
