Industrial corridors have scope to change biz landscape of AP

Visakhapatnam: Nodes proposed under three industrial corridors in Andhra Pradesh have the scope to change the industrial landscape of the State and give a fillip to port-led development under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Minister for Industries and Commerce Gudivada Amarnath has said.

He told Bizz Buzz on the sidelines of a meeting with a high-power delegation from Western Australia that infrastructure-led industrialisation in propelling economic activity across the State with the patronage of the Central Government.

The Minister asked the delegation from Western Australia to explore extensive engagement in activities relating to mineral mining (especially lithium which is used in electric vehicles) by having easier tie ups through lithium producing companies like Rio Tinto and Pilbara with extending technical cooperation and expertise sharing and working towards a smooth supply chain.

He said a window of business opportunities could be explored among the two provincial governments in pharma API's and intermediaries, manufacturing goods, textiles, Araku specialty coffee, handicrafts and toys, finished jute products, black galaxy granite.

Amarnath said AP is the only State to develop three national industrial corridors - Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) with an extent of 22,039 acres. It has scope to increase GDP by six times (from Rs 2 lakh crore in 2015 to Rs 11.6 lakh crore by 2035).

He said it is expected to expand manufacturing output by seven times from Rs 1.1 lakh crore in 2015 to Rs 7.8 lakh crore by 2035, create 1.1 crore additional incremental employment from 29 lakh in 2015 to 140 lakh by 2045.

Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor will also pass through Andhra Pradesh.

The Minister said the State at present has six ports including Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram and Kakinada with a handling capacity of 210 million tonnes.

Three more are under development at Bhavanapadu, Ramayapatnam and Machilipatnam. The State has six operational airports with international airports at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati. An international airport is being developed at Bhogapuram near Visakhapatnam.

Development of nine fishing harbours and four fish landing jetties with an outlay of Rs.3,000 crore has been undertaken. Fish landing centers have the employment potential of about 85,000 and will be operational by 2023, he stated.

The cargo handling capacity of ports under the control of the State Government is 100 million tonne and It has been targeted to handle about 300 million tonnes by 2024 by developing four greenfield ports. Reiterating the commitment of the State Government to give a boost to the use of inland waterways, he said they are developing multi-modal logistics parks in Anantapur and Kadapa districts to reduce logistics costs. The State's first multimodal logistics park was launched here in 2017 facilitating the easy movement of cargo from nearby industrial areas to other parts of India.According to the government officials, the State has attracted significant investments while successfully containing the adverse impact of COVID-19. From June ,2019 to March, 2022, a total of 27,014 industrial units were grounded with an investment commitment of Rs.43,866 crore and an employment potential of 2.33 crore. At present, there are 52 projects under implementation with total investment of Rs 35,592.91 crore with a potential to create employment for 76,656 people and five public sector units with an investment of Rs.1,07,400 crore and with an employment potential for 79,700.