Japanese keen on power sector

Hyderabad: A beaming AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday expressed hope that his Japanese tour would bring a large number of investors to Andhra Pradesh.

He said Japan had shown great interest in power sector. Japanese industrialists are ready to set up 10,000 megawatts of solar energy unit. A detailed project report would be ready by mid-January. Japanese investors have also shown keen interest to take up Research and Development to reduce the cost of production of solar energy. If this happens then the cost of per unit solar power would be Rs 4, he added.

The AP CM said another MoU was signed for setting up a 4,000 mega watt thermal power plant. Besides, an MoU was also reached with the NEDO on energy conservation and efficient supply. The Japanese technology would also be useful for advanced forecast of climate, which in turn will help plan suitable crops for a season.

To speed up the process, an exclusive Japanese language desk would be created in the Industries department, and escort services would also be provided to the visiting investors from Japan, Naidu said. Apart from developing Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam as logistic hobs, he had proposed for sister cities relationship between the two port cities, Yokohama in Japan and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Reiterating that the investors had expressed some concerns about the red tapism, he said that this would be handled on top priority and his government would ensure that there would be a congenial industrial environment in the state to attract investments. Naidu said that he would soon visit Germany and South Korea to attract investments from those countries as well.