Giving a boost to the economic development of the region, Indonesia’s Sinarmas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper has concluded a deal with Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board to establish a paper plant that will eventually be its biggest at 5,000 metric tons. The Indonesian paper company will set up a paper unit at Ravur village in Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district with a foreign direct investment of US$ 3.5 billion (approximately Rs. 24,000 crore). The company has proposed to build the unit on 2,500 acres and when complete it says it will create 4,000 jobs directly and perhaps indirect employment to another 10,000.

The announcement says that the project is likely to uplift the livelihood of about 50,000 farmers in the area who will provide eucalyptus wood material for the pulp needed to manufacture paper. The paper unit will be completed in two phases. At the end of the second phase it should have a capacity of approximately 5 million metric tons of paper and board. The deal was signed in the presence of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu who was in Prakasam district to inaugurate the pylon of the new Ramayapatnam port in Ravur village.

Welcoming the APP initiative, the chief minister said that the state will witness rapid growth with the upcoming paper unit and the Ramayapatnam port that are both in Prakasam district. He said that the new port and the paper unit will transform the economic scenario of the state. He also sought cooperation of the farmers and said that the government will give top priority for their empowerment. The chief minister also asked the management of the Indonesian paper major to complete the project within 20 months.

Founded in 1972, Asia Pulp & Paper has an annual capacity of more than 18 million tons. The company is operating in 120 countries across six continents. In the 1990s APP built the Sinarmas paper mill in Maharashtra to manufacture coated papers which was eventually sold to Indian paper manufacturer Ballarpur in 2001.