GMR Group to set up civil aviation university in Vizag, land being allotted, says Naidu Invites private participation to develop AP as maritime, logistics gateway for East India

Andhra Pradesh as part of prioritising its development into a major logistics and maritime gateway for Eastern India, will set up a Logistics Corporation and encourage PPP model of development to strengthen the existing infrastructure taking advantage of India's second largest coastline of nearly 1,000 km after Gujarat, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced here on Tuesday.

He was here on a brief visit to attend the two-day 'East Coast Maritime & Logistics Summit'' organised jointly by Global Forum for Sustainable Transformation (GFST) and Maritime Gateway. Naidu also interacted with the CEOs of shipping and logistics companies and a select group of six startups on how to develop logistics in AP.

The summit assumes importance as it is being held in the backdrop of MoU signed by AP Maritime Board with APM Terminals, a subsidiary of AP Moller-Maersk for an investment of Rs.9,000 crore on developing Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam and Mulapeta pirts and the Central Government's in-principle consent to develop a mega shipbuilding and repair yard at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district.

In his address, Naidu declared the decision of GMR Group to set up first of its kind civil aviation university in Visakhapatnam. He said the land required for the university will be allotted soon.

The GMR Group is scheduled to commission the first phase of a greenfield international airport at Bhogapuram near here at a cost of Rs.4,500 crore.

Stating that Singapore and Dubai turned into transhipment hubs and world-class cities due to development of futuristic ports and international airports, he predicted a bright future for Visakhapatnam as a logistics and tech hub. "The city will have massive investments in data centres, which will have more capacity than the rest of the country," he disclosed. TCS and Cognizant will be launching their operations in the city shortly.

Describing how AP will position itself as a leader in green energy, he pointed out how out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target to produce 500 GW non-fossil energy by 2030, AP is making efforts to generate 160 GW of green energy.

Underlining the need for more multimodal logistics parks and dedicated freight corridors, the Chief Minister said mobilising funds is not a hindrance to translate creative and viable ideas into action. He sought joint venture partnerships with multinationals and private companies to develop logistics infrastructure in AP and asked the stakeholders to suggest names from amongst themselves for formation of a long-term policy with transparency for developing successful projects like Shamshabad Airport and Genome Valley in Hyderabad and Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) at Parawada, near here.

Naidu called for proper use of demographic dividends and said for innovative and creative projects, wherever required, the government will give Viability Gap Funding (VGF) as part of the resolve to develop robust infrastructure in the maritime sector so as to drastically cut the logistics cost.