The group's managing director and chief executive officer, Kiron Shah, who met the state chief minister in this connection on Friday, said the project entailed an investment of Rs 14,000 crore over a period of seven years. An amount of Rs 1,350 crore would be invested in the first two years of its operations.
Once completed, the project would provide direct employment to 10,000 people and indirect employment to 25,000.
CS Rao, chief executive officer of APInvest, a nodal investment promotion agency of the state government, told Business Standard that Velankani would disclose the funding pattern of the massive project in a detailed project report to be submitted later.
APInvest had been actively deliberating with Velankani for the past three months for setting up the project at Vizag. Earlier, the group was interacting with the Gujarat government for establishing the unit at Dahej near Ankleshwar.
Chief Minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, said the state government had already provided 150 acres to Velankani and was ready to give an additional 80 acres for the project. According to an official press release, the silicon project, to be executed by Velankani Renewable Energy Company, will have an installed capacity to produce 500 million silicon wafers, 1,500 mw photovoltaic cells and 1,500 mw photovoltaic modules per annum. The company is planning to roll out its first silicon product into the market by October 2009.
