Chief minister lays foundation for port and paper industry at Ramayapatnam

Kandukur: The chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu laid foundation for the non major port and largest capacity paper industry in the world at Ramayapatnam in Kandukur assembly constituency on Wednesday. He signed the MoU with the Asia Pulp and Paper management and assured full cooperation from the state government.

Speaking at the Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru program held in Ramayapatnam, Chandrababu Naidu explained that the port is not a minor port as the opposition party is campaigning but the port being constructed by the state government. He said that the government is making the decades old dream of Prakasam district people to come true while his opponents are trying to obstruct it. He claimed that the state is constructing the port with Rs 4240 crore budget in in 3092 acres with with 30 million ton per annum capacity even though the central government is not cooperating with it. 

The chief minister announced that his commitment to the Ramayapatnam port is attracting the industrialists already. He said that the Indonesian paper industry giant Asia Pulp and Paper is such one company came forward to establish the world's largest capacity paper manufacturing unit near Ramayapatnam. He said that the company is about invest Rs 26500 crore in this paper industry, which is also the largest foreign direct investment in one company. He said that in the five berths planned for the first phase are already booked by the industries like Asia Pulp and Paper, Zindal steel and Ramco cements. He announced that the port and the paper industry will provide direct and indirect employment for nearly 50000 people in the area. 

Chandrababu Naidu called the opposition parties and their leaders as the anti development forces. He claimed credit for the construction of Pattiseema amidst the allegations from the opposition. He said that the Pattiseema project has provided water to the farmers who otherwise didn't receive it due to drought and less rain. He tried to counter the allegations of the opposition parties that Rs 6lakh crore corruption was taken place in the state. He flayed that the opposition leader used his advantage as son of a chief minister and is the reason for many industrialists and top officials going behind bars. 

He welcomed the union government decision to offer reservation to the economically backward people in upper castes. At the same time, he demanded the central government to approve reservation to Kapus and include Valmikis in STs. He alleged that the union government is trying to control the state government by indirectly involving in the state matters like law and order. He said that the union government has awarded the case of attack on Jaganmohan Reddy to NIA. He advised the BJP leadership to keep the spirit of federal union and co-operate with the the state government.