All these days, the Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government headed by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been claiming that global software giant Google is going to establish the 1 GW data centre at Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs 1.36 lakh crore.
Though the Google has announced that it has a strategic tie-up with Adani group, Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh had claimed that Adani would only be confined to the construction of the data centre and it would be operated entirely by Google Cloud team.
In fact, the Naidu government has given the impression that the land allotment and incentives are being given only to Google.
However, the latest developments indicate that it is Adani group which is the whole owner of the data centre project and Google is only a technological partner. The issue came up for discussion at the state cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
According to sources, the Andhra Pradesh government has received a letter from Google stating that construction and operational responsibilities for the proposed data centre would be handled by the Adani Group.
It suggested that future dealings related to the data centre be routed through the Adani group.
In light of this, the Cabinet discussed proposals to transfer not only operational responsibilities but also land ownership rights to Adani for the project.
The Cabinet is understood to have decided to examine additional conditions proposed by Adani before taking a final decision.
Interestingly, Adani has also reportedly written to the state government seeking transfer of incentives granted earlier to Google for the project.
Taking this into consideration, the Cabinet is learnt to have resolved to allocate an additional 170 acres of land along with the 480 acres already allotted to Google in Visakhapatnam.
A final decision on other proposals submitted by Adani is expected soon after further examination, sources said.