Vizag steel plant to pump Rs38,500 cr in Andhra projects

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), commonly known as the Visakhapatnam steel plant, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government for an investment of around Rs38,500 crore in various projects.

The State Government and RINL agreed on the importance of infrastructure and industrial development in Andhra Pradesh and welcomed mutual cooperation for facilitating investments in Andhra Pradesh.

P C Mohapatra, director (projects) of RINL, and Kartikeya Misra, director of industries, Andhra Pradesh, exchanged copies of the copies. The MoU envisages investment of around Rs38,500 crore to take up various projects at Visakhapatnam with an employment opportunity for 3,000 persons.

Expansion of RINL's capacity to 7.3 mtpa and modernisation with an investment of Rs3,600 crore, construction of coke oven battery-5 and other projects at an investment of Rs3,400 crore, and further expansion of RINL's capacity to 11.5 -12 mtpa with an estimated investment of Rs25,000 crore in the future are some of the major projects.

Establishing a slurry pipeline and pellet plant project (joint venture with NMDC and others) at an investment of Rs6,100 crore, and transmission line tower project (JV with Powergrid) with an investment of Rs330 crore are also included in the MoU.

P Madhusudan, chairman and managing director of RINL, met state Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu and assured him that RINL would be a partner in the progress of the state and sought co-operation from the government for implementing the projects.