Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will be arriving in Tirupati this morning. He will be laying foundation stone for the NTPC-BHEL power plant manufacturing project at Mannavaram near Srikalahasthi in Chittoor district of the state.
The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for the Tirupati International Airport . During his day-long visit to Tirupati, the Prime Minister will offer worship to Lord Sri Venkateswara, at Tirumala.
AIR correspondent M.S. Laxmi reports from Hyderabad that after a gap of almost three decades Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to accommodate one of the biggest Public Sector Companies of the Country. The BHEL-NTPC joint venture project to manufacture power plant equipment at an estimated cost of about Rs 6,000 is the first public sector investment after the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant set up in 1979. Expected to commence production in 3 to 4 years, the project will provide direct employment to about 6000 people while over 30 thousand are to get indirect employment. The Mannavaram project is expected to indigenizing the power generation equipment which is being largely being imported at present by the public sector including BHEL and NTPC. Besides allocating over 750 acres of land at a nominal rate of RS 100, the state Government has also assured to provide the infrastructure facilities such as 4-line road connectivity to National Highway .
Once the project takes off, about 1000 ancillary units, most of them small and medium enterprises are expected to come up around Mannavaram. Regarding the long due Tirupati International airport, the existing Airport is being upgraded into an International one by constructing a new integrated terminal at a cost of about Rs 300 crore. The state Government has allocated over 700 acres of land for the project.