KACHARAGADLA

The Union government will invest about Rs. 1.2 lakh crore in the petroleum sector in Andhra Pradesh over the next couple of years to make the State a leading petroleum hub, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Thursday. He was speaking at Vangali village in Sabbavaram mandal of Visakhapatnam district after Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) and the Skill Development Institute (SDI). Mr. Pradhan said that the government was keen on setting up the proposed petro-chemical complex in AP and there was no room for any doubt. “We have set aside about Rs. 35,000 crore for the complex and it is likely to come up in the Visakhapatnam-Kakinada- Rajahmundry corridor,” he said. This apart, the Union Government will be pumping in another Rs. 21,000 crore to enhance the production capacity of the refinery of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited in Visakhapa