Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli, in reply to a question posed by G.V.L. Narasimha Rao in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday on the status of the petrochemical complex in Andhra Pradesh, said the State government should take a decision on the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) in the context of its appeal to the Centre to foot the bill.
Mr. Rameswar stated that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had conveyed to the Government of A.P. that the proposed refinery and petrochemical project was capital-intensive and required huge investments.
It was also mentioned that the project would have a direct and indirect impact on the economy of the State, and hence the State government should take an appropriate decision on the issue.
The Union Minister also said the State government, the GAIL and the HPCL had signed a MoU on January 27, 2017, in Visakhapatnam for the development of the petrochemical complex at an estimated cost of ₹32,901 crore in Kakinada. A feasibility study was also carried out. The oil PSUs had indicated to the State government that VGF was essential to make the project viable.
The oil PSUs had sought ₹948 crore per year as interest loan, or ₹5,615 crore for making the project viable.
MP blames Jagan, Naidu
In a tweet, Mr. Narasimha Rao said, “The short-sightedness of Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and N. Chandrababu Naidu has deprived A.P. of the huge petrochemical complex and its concomitant benefits to the State.”
The State’s economy would have benefited immensely from the investment than expenditure on “freebie schemes” doled out by the successive governments, Mr. Narasimha Rao observed.
