Chinese steel major Ansteel keen to set up plant in AP

Chinese steel major Ansteel, a government-owned company, has evinced interest in setting up a steel plant in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore, an official release here said tonight. AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, on the first day of his four-day tour of China, today held a bilateral meeting with Ansteel Secretary and President Feng Zhanti and other company officials in Tinajin and invited them to visit the state and select a suitable location for the proposed steel plant, the release from CMO said. "Since India is growing very rapidly, there will be a lot of demand for steel in the country and Ansteel group can explore a partnership with either private or public steel enterprises," the Chief Minister told the Chinese team. As construction of the state's new capital city Amaravati was underway, there was huge demand for steel in the state as well, he pointed out. Chandrababu asked the Ansteel team to inspect the site in Kadapa district where previously a steel plant was proposed to be set up (by the then Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, who was subsequently jailed in the iron ore mining scandal). "The location is close to the port and iron ore is abundantly available," the Chief Minister said. Chandrababu asked the Chinese business group to come with an "implementable action plan" so that the land allotment proposal could be taken forward, the CMO release added.