Close on the heels of setting a seven-week deadline earlier this month for choosing a joint venture partner, the government of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has committed to investing $405 million to construct a 1.5 million mt per year greenfield steel mill in the state, a government official said on Friday, November 20.
The official said that the investment will be infused into the proposed joint venture of AP High Grade Steel Limited, a special purpose vehicle of the Andhra Pradesh government with a chosen private domestic or foreign investor on the condition that the latter will subsequently buy out the equity stake of the state government. He said that plant and equipment will be sourced globally from manufacturers like Danieli in Italy, Paul Wurth in Luxemburg and Primetals Technologies in the UK.
The state government has already set aside 3295 acres of land in the state and has also concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with government-run miner NMDC Limited for supplies of iron ore to the proposed steel mill.