VPA envisages investments worth Rs 34,000cr

Blessed with the second longest mainland coastline of 974 km after Gujarat, the investment opportunities in Andhra Pradesh will be showcased at the three-day Global Maritime India Summit (GMIS) being hosted by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways in New Delhi from October 17.

Speaking at a roadshow organised here as a curtain-raiser to the prestigious event, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur, AP Minister for Industries and Commerce Gudivada Amarnath, Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao, Sagarmala Joint Secretary Bhushan Kumar, AP Maritime Board Chairman Kyla Venkata Rao, Visakhapatnam Port Authority Chairman Dr M M Angamuthu, APMB Deputy CEO Lt Cdr Ravindranath Reddy, VPA Deputy Chairman Durgesh Dubey and others exuded confidence that AP will get a lot of benefits by interacting with the stakeholders attending the summit from various corners of the world.

Angamuthu informed that the VPA, which is among top five major ports in India and broke an all-time record in its 90 years of glorious history by handling 73.73 million tonnes last year, has proposed investments worth Rs 34,000 crores with the government and private agencies. The MoUs will be signed during the upcoming GMIS. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the summit.

Speaking to media persons later, he said the GMIS will be a unique and specialised programme where AP will get an excellent opportunity for seeking strategic partners for investment and technical collaborations with the domain experts and reputed firms attending from various parts of the world for giving a boost to port-led development.

He said there will be exclusive sessions to discuss opportunities in AP and hoped that both the government at the Centre and in the State will supplement and complement each other to take the State to the next level in the path of development in the maritime sector.

Stating that tourism promotion is one of the focus areas, Angamuthu said the construction of the International Maritime Cruise Terminal funded by the Government of India has been completed and it is ready for inauguration in a month. He said though Visakhapatnam gets domestic tourists, the inauguration of the cruise terminal will bring international tourists to the region creating a lot of employment opportunities for the local youth.

MP Narasimha Rao said VPA is one of the premier ports established in 1933 contributing immensely for transformation of Visakhapatnam into a mega metropolis and pointed out that the port had played a key role in transportation of seafood worth Rs 17,000 crore, almost one-fourth of the country’s marine food exports.

Explaining about Sagarmala and Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti schemes, Bhushan Kumar said with five operational ports, three more being set up by State Government under PPP mode and modernisation of Kakinada anchorage port, AP is set to play a significant role in port-led development. He said the Centre as part of reducing logistics cost and strengthening the connectivity, has sanctioned several schemes for AP.

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in a special address delivered virtually at the roadshow highlighted India’s progress towards a blue economy. He spoke on the strategic significance of fostering maritime growth and connectivity.