Land acquisition for six-lane expressway to cost Rs. 4k-cr

• The work on highway to start in 3-4 months

• 1st flight will fly from Bhogapuram in September, 2025

• 6,500 acres acquired for largest petroleum corridor between Vizag and Kakinada

• Ramayapatnam Port to receive first ship in Dec, 2023

Visakhapatnam: Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath on Friday said the work on the six-lane expressway connecting Visakhapatnam with the proposed international airport at Bhogapuram is likely to start in the next three to four months.

Delivering the keynote address at the excellency award function organised here by Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI), he said the Rs 6,500 crore project has been cleared by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari sometime ago. He said both Gadkari and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will participate in the programme.

Amarnath said of the total project cost, the State Government has to contribute Rs 1,200 crore towards its contribution. Rs 4,000 crore alone is estimated to be spent on land acquisition.

Reiterating the State Government’s commitment to accelerate the pace of development, he said the Chief Minister is scheduled to lay foundation stones for the Bhogapuram International Airport being built by GMR Group and the Adani Data Park in the city on May 3. While GMR Group has announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in the first phase of the airport project, the Adani Data Park is envisaged with an investment of Rs 14,000 crore.

The Minister said Adani Data Park will provide employment to 25,000 whereas the first flight will fly from Bhogapuram in September, 2025. International flights will be introduced four months after it is opened to commercial flights, he said, quoting the developer.

Stating that Andhra Pradesh is the only State to get three out of 11 industrial corridors proposed in the country, he said 6,500 acres have been acquired for one of the largest petroleum corridors in the country between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada. He said they have already acquired 6,500 acres for the ambitious PCPIR project.

The Minister said the Centre will be giving Rs 1,000 crore for developing infrastructure at Bulk Drug Park at Kakinada. Two Electronic Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) are coming up at Tirupati and one each at Kopparti and Sri City.

On the resolve to give a fillip to port-led development along the 974-km long coastline, he said the stone for Bandar Port will be laid soon. The Chief Minister launched work on the Mulapeta (Bhavanapadu) Port at a cost of Rs 4,200 crore. Ramayapatnam Port, he said, is all set to receive the first ship in December, 2023 or January, 2024.

Buggana’s call to industries

Speaking at the meeting, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath said the State has identified skill development as a focus area so as to create skilled manpower to meet the needs of the local industries as well as the outside world.

He asked the industries to adopt Industrial Training Centres (ITIs) to improve their performance and effective administration, he said they have already designed the curriculum of ITIs and polytechnics. He said on-the-job training has been made compulsory so that they will be rolled out as industry-ready personnel.

The Minister said instead of capital investment, they are looking at industries for HR support so as to put 84 government ITIs into optimum utilisation. Rajendranath said for the first time, they had released Rs 60 crore for repairs of ITIs and Rs 15 crore for purchase of lab equipment indicating that there is significant improvement in campus placement in the recent time.

He said the Centre of Excellence on marine and shipping in Visakhapatnam and MSME training centre at Anakapalle are also being revamped so as to extend maximum benefit to the locals. He said the CoE in the city has equipment worth Rs 60 crore to Rs 70 crore, on part with any IIT. Though the mandate was to establish 175 skill hubs-one in each Assembly constituency, they have already set up 192 hubs. He said the proposed skill university will not only administer the skill environment but also take up R&D activity and offer super specialty courses.

Justice Jasti Chalameshwar, retired Judge of the Supreme Court, said everything is linked to prosperity in economic activity, trade and commerce and described how wars were fought in the past over economic interests.

FAPCCI president Karunendra S Jasti said FAPCCI is committed to improve the investment environment in the State and pointed out that many including from Telangana are now looking at investment opportunities in Andhra Pradesh.