Kadapa steel plant remains an unrealised dream despite efforts by successive governments
The Hindu
Construction of an integrated steel plant in Kadapa district (Kadapa Steel Plant - KSP) is showing little signs of progress due to a host of issues. Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had laid the foundation for the steel plant for the first time on December 23, 2019 at Sunnapurallapalle village in Jammalamadugu Mandal.
Five long years after two Chief Ministers laid foundations for it with much hype, construction of the three-Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant in Kadapa district (Kadapa Steel Plant - KSP) is showing little signs of progress due to a host of issues, mainly related to the supply of iron ore and creation of external infrastructure and some extraneous factors too.
The present government is hopeful that the steel plant establishment will gather pace in the near future once JSW Steel Limited (JSWSL) achieves financial closures and finalises the type of steel-making technology that best suits the project.
Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had laid the foundation for the steel plant for the first time on December 23, 2019 at Sunnapurallapalle village in Jammalamadugu Mandal, just about a year after his predecessor did it in 2018 at a different location (Kambaladinne village in Mylavaram Mandal), and again in February, 2023, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation stone for the second time at Sunnapurallapalle.
The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was mandated under the Thirteenth Schedule of Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 to examine within six months the feasibility of establishing a steel plant in Kadapa district. But, KSP has so far remained a veritable pipe dream for multiple reasons.
It is pertinent to mention that the Union Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai made a statement in the Parliament as late as in July 2023 that KSP is not technically and economically feasible.
It was in the latter half of the year 2018 that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu had given up asking the Centre to set up KSP following differences with it over sourcing of iron ore and other logistical issues, and got Rayalaseema Steel Corporation floated as a Special Purpose Vehicle to establish the plant as a State government-owned entity but nothing significant happened thereafter.
After coming to power in 2019, Mr. Mohan Reddy had reportedly managed to rope in the U.K.-based Liberty Steel Group and the Essar Group for establishing KSP but the project was stuck.
No room for complacency till counting is completed, Chandrababu Naidu tells TDP-BJP-JSP contestants. The TDP-BJP-JSP alliance will register a comfortable victory in the general elections over the YSRCP, he says. Alleging that the YSRCP has conspired to create disturbances on the counting day, the TDP national president advises the chief counting agents and their teams to see to it that the officials adhere to norms related to counting.