The Andhra Pradesh Government will identify an 25,000-acre site and forward the same to the Centre to pave way for the setting up of the first manufacturing and investment zone in South India, Ms J.Geetha Reddy, State Major Industries Minister, said here today.

Addressing a press conference along with the State Minister for IT, Mr Ponnala Lakhsmaiah, she said this follows the recent interaction the State had with the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, during the CII Partnership Summit. “This is a mega project and needs a large chunk of land. A suitable site would be identified and taken up with the Centre for follow up,” she said.

The Commerce Minister had announced the Centre's plans to set up several large manufacturing and investment zones. While six of seven zones proposed would come up along the dense Mumbai-Delhi corridor, the first one in South India is likely in Andhra Pradesh.

National event

Glossing over the CII Partnership Summit, which witnessed more 243 proposals being signed for projects in Andhra Pradesh, the Minister sought to explain that the Partnership Summit was a national event hosted by the CII in various parts of the country. The State and Hyderabad used the opportunity to ink these proposals. “In fact, after the event, we have been flooded with more proposals,” she said.

On a query about Telangana being neglected when it comes to new proposals, the Minister while denying this said that private entrepreneurs have the option to select a location of their choice for setting up a new unit. “We do not have a say in that. In fact, Telangana has had fair share of proposals with 43 (about 16 per cent). This included Mahindra and Mahindra's one lakh per annum tractor plant, the largest single location tractor unit,” she said.

The region also bagged good number of public sector undertakings including BEL, BDL etc. In fact, the State had to provide for 100 per cent VAT rebate to M&M who were seeking other locations,” she added.

Referring to the problem of attracting automotive companies, she said that locations such as Chennai and Pune, which are known to be auto ancillary clusters, have managed to woo them at the cost of Andhra Pradesh. In fact a leading automotive company (Peugeot) bargained for best incentives and then landed up in Gujarat and managed to seek a better deal there, she said.

New policies

The IT Minister said that the Government was at advanced stage of finalising a policy for gaming, animation and electronic sectors. These are at advanced stage of finalisation and now being circulated, he said.

Mr Lakshmaiah said that the Government has received several large investment proposals from the IT sector. But these companies would prefer to announce their expansion at appropriate time. He said that the Government is seeking additional gas supplies to pave way for setting up of new projects.