Hyderabad: Many industrialists including Global Agenda Council on India (GAC), Bharat Forge and others expressed interest in investing in Andhra Pradesh when AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu discussed the issue with them.
 
On the third day at Davos, Mr Naidu held a meeting with GAC representatives and briefed them about the new state and the challenges and opportunities it poses. The GAC India team comprising Ajay Khanna (Jubilant Bharatia Group), Neeraj Bharadwaj (Moser Baer), Shamina Singh (Master Card,USA), Tejp-reet Singh Chopra (Bharat Light and Power) Kiran Kumar Grandhi (GMR) and others agreed to choose AP as the pilot state for their developmental activities.
 
They agreed to collaborate with the state to eradicate poverty and to work in the area of skill development. The GAC India team discussed about the various measures to be taken for increasing the effectiveness of governance. The GAC India team suggested that the capital city should have development integrated with social infrastructure increasing the livability.
 
Meanwhile during a meeting with the Chief Minister Naidu the Bharat Forge Chairman Baba N Kalyani said that they are interested in investing in AP in three areas. Kalyani explained that a prerequisite for developing missile manufacturing units is the eco system around it such as a centre which will allow frequent testing which is closer to an airport.
 
He said such centres require Permission from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and state government and requested for facilitation of such permissions. He said that they are interested in manufacturing wind energy generation equipment. He said that they are the best in the world in automobile forging. Kalyani assured that their announcement or investment will attracts tens of other auto component and auto manufacturers.
 
Bharat Forge will propagate the idea of investments in AP in the auto manufacturing community. Kalyani also agreed to support skill Development as they have the required expertise. CM Naidu suggested that Ananthapur or Kurnool would be suitable for defence technologies, Krishnapatnam – Yerpedu – Tirupathi for investments in auto components manufacturing since it has a port which is required for exports, an ecosystem of auto manufacturers in Sri City and Chennai.
 
In a meeting with Usha Rao CEO of Monari the global water development partners CM Naidu discussed the areas of collaboration between the state government and the company. They discussed the collaboration in the fields of integrated water resource management, drought management, waste water management, Capital city water management, power, and transportation and drip irrigation systems.
 
Mean while in his welcome address in the AP Investment session CM Naidu gave a presentation on the advantages and investment opportunities in AP. Impressed by the Naidu’s leadership Adi Godrej, Prakash Hinduja, Rajeev Mittal and others expressed interest to invest in AP.
 
Spanish delegates who were present in the session invited CM Naidu to visit Spain and study their bullet train model and explore their smart cities and tourism model. They informed the AP delegation that they will be visiting AP soon.
 
In a meeting with Swiss Solar Technology consortium on enable for smart cities CM Naidu met businessmen and leaders of the Swiss Cleantech Industry. Appealing to Swiss delegates CM Naidu unveiled his vision and explained about the opportunities in infrastructure development in the state. A joint committee will be set up shortly between the AP department of Industries and Commerce and the Swiss Consortium to work out a master plan in the key technology clusters of smart cities , smart villages , renewable Hybrid energy solutions and water management and an MOU will be signed shortly.
 
Welspun Renewables to set up RS 700 crore solar project
 
Mumbai based Welspun Renewables has signed an agreement to set up a 100 MW solar power project in AP. The cost of the project will be Rs 700 crore. Vice Chairman of Welspun Vineet Mittal signed the power purchase agreement (PPA) for setting up 100.1 MW solar PV project during the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) AP Investment session being led by CM Naidu.

Source: DC