VIJAYAWADA: The management of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the largest paper manufacturers in the world, has evinced interest to set up India’s largest paper mill in Andhra Pradesh. Eyeing the increasing demand for paper in China market, APP zeroed in on Andhra Pradesh to start operations as it will be the best location in the East Coast for them to transport raw material to the proposed company and paper to China.During a meeting with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Wednesday, APP executive director of marketing Suresh Kilam requested the government to allocate 2,500 acres of land near a port in the State for setting up the paper mill. He informed that the company will start production within two-and-half-years if the State government allocates the required land.
When the Chief Minister enquired about import and export potential, discharge information and the plan of action, Kilam said that once land is confirmed, they would submit a feasibility report in 50 days.He said that the company is planning to produce only packaging paper at the proposed unit in AP and will have a daily import and export of materials weighing around 30,000 tonnes.Responding positively, the Chief Minister suggested them to make a visit to the surrounding areas of Kakinada, Machilipatnam and Krishnapatnam ports. Asia Pulp and Paper is one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia and its operations span across banking, infrastructure, agribusiness communications, cooking oil, palm oil, real estate and telecommunications.
The company representatives said that the paper mill have a capacity to produce 4,000 metric tonnes of paper a day. One fourth of production will earmarked for the Indian market, they said.
Bayer tie-up
Representatives of Bayer, a German multinational and one of the oldest agro chemicals, crop sciences and pharmaceutical companies in the world, came forward to bring leading innovation in chemical and biological crop protection and digital farming to the State.Srinath Bala, chief marketing officer, Peter R Mueller, Head of Region APAC 2 (South Asia) at Bayer CropScience Limited, and Rajvi S Rathi, vice-president, public and government affairs, Bayer CropScience Limited, informed the CM that the objective of their proposal was to bring all stakeholders together and provide the farmers with access to market and technology for water, nutrition and economic management.
Kia Motors ceremony
After visiting the Real Time Governance Centre in the State Secretariat, Kook Hyun Shim, managing director of Kia Motors India, called on the Chief Minister and invited him for a framework installation ceremony of the Kia plant at the project site in Anantapur on February 22. The ceremony will mark a significant amount of progress since the signing of the MoU. The Chief Minister was very please with the pace of the progress and said that he would like to see the first car from the facility soon.