Continental Carbon to set up new factory in Andhra

Visakhapatnam: Continental Carbon India Ltd, which has a factory at Ghaziabad, is setting up another one in Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore to manufacture carbon black, according to Mr Deepak Malik, Managing Director.

Mr Malik said that the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) had allotted 100 acres in the special economic zone for setting up the factory. “In the first phase, to be completed in roughly two years, we will invest Rs 500 crore and in the second Rs 500 crore more. It may take about five years for the completion of the project. It will have the capacity to produce 3 lakh tonnes of carbon black a year,” he explained.

He said half of the output would be for export and the rest for the domestic market. “Carbon black is mainly used in rubber tyre manufacture for reinforcement and there is good demand for the product in India and elsewhere. At present, we are producing 65,000 tonnes of carbon black a year in the Ghaziabad factory,” he said.

He said the company was bullish about the Visakhapatnam project, as it would be located in the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region from Srikakulam to Kakinada. “There is immense potential in this coastal industrial corridor and ours will be one of the major units,” he said.

Answering a question on the apprehensions that the coastal corridor may prove ruinous to the coastal environs and the fisheries sector, he said such fears were unfounded. “We will be following the most stringent ecological stipulations and all the water in the plant will be recycled. The APIIC is planning a common marine outfall for letting out the treated effluents into the sea and the utmost precautions will be taken,” he said.

Mr B.P. Acharya, Chairman and Managing Director of APIIC, said Continental’s factory would be one of the major units in the coastal corridor and “there is no justification for the hue and cry over the corridor as the State Government will ensure that the units comply with the environmental guidelines laid down. Sustainable development is our aim and we will not allow these units, if there is any possibility of damage to fisheries sector. There is no cause for concern. ”