Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a three-nation consortium of China HuanqinContracting and Engineering Corporation, LEPL Ventures Private Limited and Isomeric Holdings to set up a gas-based fertilizer project at Krishnapatanam with an investment of Rs 10,183crore.

The MoU was signed during Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s ongoing visit to China, wherein he was participating in the World Economic Forum’s 10th annual meeting of New Champions in Tianjin. This proposed year of commencement for the project is 2017-18, a release from the CMO here said.

This project will help generate 5,000 thousand jobs, the release said. China Huanqiu, headquartered in Beijing, is an affiliate of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Isomeric Holdings is a Malaysian company with expertise in gas-based manufacturing projects while LEPL is a Vijayawada-based infrastructure company that also runs an airline.

The Chief Minister, on the second day of his trip, also met the president of Japan External Trade Organisation Yasushi Akahoshi and discussed investment promotion in the state, the CMO release said.

Later, the Chief Minister met Jan Willem Breen, president of Corporate Strategy,United Parcel Services. Jan Willem Breen noted that India is now an important destination and the company is willing to sign Business to Business and Business to Consumer agreements. Chandrababu presented him a brief on the emerging business opportunities in the state as the government intended to make it a logistics hub.