The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) was considering investing Rs 5,000 crore in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. However, after studying the feasibility of the investments, the SCCL delegation advised the Chief Minister that no decision should be taken hastily. They felt that the issue required more in-depth study on the viability of the plant and whether the employees of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) would cooperate or not before a decision was taken. The SCCL felt that the company was facing several challenges and required huge capital investment to run the plant.
The government has decided not to participate in the bidding for investing in the plant. It felt that to run the plant without any hurdles, support from the workers of VSP was necessary. The government wants to examine this issue thoroughly before investing money. Saturday was the last date for filing the bid, but the VSP has extended it up to April 20 to attract more bids.
It remains to be seen whether the TS government will reconsider its decision.