VISAKHAPATNAM: Public sector units (PSUs) in Visakhapatnam have got some major allocations in the Union Budget-2018. The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has got `1,400 crore, topping the bill, while `108 crore has been earmarked for the Vizag Port. However, sources in the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of the VSP, said that no a single rupee more than the demand was allocated to it. “The said `1,400 crore has been generated by the RINL itself. The Centre, in the budget, has just approved our projections which is known as the Capital Expenditure (CapEx) amount. We are going to spend this fund on various expansion, modernisation and re-commissioning programmes of the plant,” an official from the RINL told TNIE on the condition of anonymity.
The RINL will spend around `2,800 crore on the ongoing construction works of the Coke Oven Battery-5 and the works of Kanithi Balancing Reservoir-2 (the first phase was taken up with `500 cr) along with the expenditure on expansion and modernisation works. Same was the reaction of Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) authorities in response to the allocation of `108 crore in the Budget. “The allocation of the `108 crore is a misnomer. The amount was generated by us. It is just that the amount will be spent by the port with the approval of the Union government and the ministry concerned,” said VPT Chairman MT Krishna Babu.
Explaining about the procedure in detail, he said this is done under the ‘Internal & External Budgetary Resources’ (IEBR) head. Earlier, the VPT had sent the preliminary budgetary projections to the Centre.
“Later we revised the projections to `225 crore. We think the Centre has taken our first projections (`108 crore) into consideration and we will inform the latest revised proposals soon,” Krishna Babu explained.
“Under the ‘Bharat Mala’ programme, we will get major fund support. A fly-over is coming up at Sheela Nagar-Sabbavaram line with an estimated cost of `500 crore. The Anandapuram-Anakapalle Highway proposed at `1,900 crore and VCTPL - Container Terminal to the Convent Junction, including a flyover with a budgetary estimate `80 crore are among the other projects on the cards,” he said.
DCIL to go by its own plan
The first reports on budgetary allocations revealed that the Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL) had got H19.62 crore. The DCIL officials said they didn’t have received any communication on the budgetary allocation. “Usually, we don’t get any budgetary support from the Centre. We prepare our own
budget for our own requirements and revenue. This year, we have prepared H600-crore budget,” said
K Ashwani Srikanth, DCIL company. ENS