Following the cancellation of land allotment given to UAE based Lulu group by the previous State government, for building a convention centre on beach road here, the group had decided not to invest in any new projects in Andhra Pradesh henceforth.

“Our Group which is based in the Gulf had decided to invest Rs 2,200 crores in Andhra Pradesh to build an international convention centre, shopping mall and a five-star hotel project to provide global exposure to Visakhapatnam as a convention and shopping hub. Apart from this, the proposed mix-use project was expected to provide employment to over 7,000 local youth,'' Lulu Group director for India Ananth Ram said in a statement.

Ram said they had participated in a transparent bidding process and were awarded the land on lease for the project. He said ''though we have incurred huge expenses towards initial project development costs such as appointing internationally renowned consultants and designing the project by world-class architects, we agree to the decision of the new government of Andhra Pradesh to revoke the land allotment for the project.''

''Given the current scenario, we have decided not to invest in any new projects in the State of Andhra Pradesh.''

At the same time, the company reconfirmed that its investments in upcoming projects in the other states - Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala - will go ahead as per schedule.

Foundation stone for the project was laid in February 2018, after the then government allocated 13 acres to the group to build the convention centre in the city.

However, the State cabinet of YSRC government which met on October 30 this year cancelled the land allocation.