The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday decided to set up a steel plant in Kadapa district without the Centre’s help, The Indian Express reported. The state took the decision after the Narendra Modi government did not sanction the proposal to build the plant, which is mentioned in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

State Information and Public Relations Minister Kalavaa Srinivasulu said the state Mineral Development Corporation will finance the project while the Rayalaseema Steel Corporation will run it. “Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will lay the foundation for the Kadapa steel plant in a month,” he said. “It has been decided to appoint P Madhusudan, the former chief managing director of Vizag Steel, as the temporary chief managing director of the Rayalaseema Steel Corporation.”

The state Cabinet also decided to develop the 42.55-km Visakhapatnam metro rail project under a public-private partnership, Srinivasulu said. The project will cost Rs 8,300 crore.

“The Cabinet has decided to write three letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi – two on the pending bifurcation assurances and against the amount of Rs 350 crore sanctioned for backward regions that was later taken back by the central government,” the minister added. “The third letter is on central government’s failure to extend assistance to Titli cyclone victims in Srikakulam district.”

The state government also decided to implement drinking water schemes in the state’s Rayalaseema region, of which Kadapa is a part, at a cost of Rs 9,400 crore, spend Rs 6,000 crore on the development of critical infrastructure in urban areas, and set up 152 more “Anna canteens” which offer food at highly subsidised rates, The Hindu reported.

Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in March after the Centre refused to grant the state special category status. The party later moved a no confidence motion against the Modi government in Parliament which was defeated.