The Andhra Pradesh Government will identify an 25,000 acre site and forward the same to the Centre to pave way for the setting up of the first manufacturing and investment zone in South India, J.Geetha Reddy, State Major Industries Minister, said recently.
Addressing a press conference along with the State Minister for IT, Mr Ponnala Lakhsmaiah, she said this follows the recent interaction the State had with the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, during the CII Partnership Summit. “This is a mega project and needs a large chunk of land. A suitable site would be identified and taken up with the Centre for follow up,” she said.
The Commerce Minister had announced the Centre’s plans to set up several large manufacturing and investment zones. While six of seven zones proposed would come up along the dense Mumbai-Delhi corridor, the first one in South India is likely in Andhra Pradesh.
Glossing over the CII Partnership Summit, which witnessed more 243 proposals being signed for projects in Andhra Pradesh, the minister sought to explain that the Partnership Summit was a national event hosted by the CII in various parts of the country. The State and Hyderabad used the opportunity to ink these proposals. “In fact, after the event, we have been flooded with more proposals,” she said.
On a query about Telangana being neglected when it comes to new proposals, the minister while denying this said that private entrepreneurs have the option to select a location of their choice for setting up a new unit. “We do not have a say in that. In fact, Telangana has had fair share of proposals with 43 (about 16 per cent). This included Mahindra and Mahindra’s one lakh per annum tractor plant, the largest single location tractor unit,” she said.
The region also bagged good number of public sector undertakings including BEL, BDL etc. In fact, the State had to provide for 100 per cent VAT rebate to M&M who were seeking other locations,” she added.
