Steel Minister tells AP CM that efforts are underway to revive Visakhapatnam Steel Plant

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu felicitates Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy in New Delhi on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met the Union Minister for Steel & Heavy Industries H.D. Kumara Swamy on Tuesday (October 8, 2024) and requested that the Government of India (GoI) identify ways to support Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the holding company of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and ensure the sustainability of its operations and capacity utilisation.

Mr. Kumara Swamy assured that the GoI would consider the revival of RINL and explained the efforts being made by the GoI to sustain RINL by infusing funds.

Secretary of the Ministry of Steel apprised about the challenges faced by RINL in terms of availability of raw material and loan repayment and, the need to invest in capital expenditure for effective capacity utilisation.

In a separate meeting with the Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, Mr. Naidu discussed the sanctioning of 65 lakh Deepam gas connections under the PM Ujjwala Yojana and speeding up the grounding of BPCL refinery in Andhra Pradesh.

HIGHWAYS

Mr. Naidu had a discussion with Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari on the development of Hyderabad-Amaravati, Mulapeta-Visakhapatnam and Kuppam-Hosur greenfield highways, the Vijayawada eastern bypass road, an Outer Ring Road for the capital region of Amaravati and upgrading the Hyderabad-Vijayawada expressway from four to eight lanes.

The CM also sought support for the development of State Highways through GoI grants and requested the Union Minister to resolve the restrictions on the Bhogapuram airport road.

Further, Mr. Naidu met Union Minister of Industries & Commerce Piyush Goyal and requested him to have a joint committee formed with officials of the Government of AP, the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade and the Ministry of Shipping to expedite the transfer of salt lands for the development of projects in a stipulated time frame and to fast-track works for the development of industrial parks by the National Industrial Corridor Development & Implementation Trust.