Chandrababu Naidu aims to make Andhra 'top investment destination'

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said the state will be among the top three investment destinations in India by 2022, the top destination by 2029 and the preferred destination, among the top five in the world by 2050.

These were the goals defined by the Chief Minister at the CII Partnership Summit 2018 being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the State Government of Andhra Pradesh in Visakhapatnam.

Speaking in the plenary session on "Sunrise Andhra Pradesh", Naidu said that it is his goal to make Andhra Pradesh the "happiest and most livable" state not only India, but the globe.

Pointing out that Andhra Pradesh was chalking "consistent double-digit growth", he said that in 2016-17 the state GDP grew by 11.61percent and in the first quarter of 2017-18, the growth was 11.16 percent.

The state, he said, was focused on "inclusive growth" and paid equal attention to all sectors of the economy.

He emphasised the criticality of agriculture and added that Andhra Pradesh was poised to become a "global hub of aquaculture".

The Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh led India in water management and said that the state will be "drought-free in 15 years".

Naidu also said that his administration was aiming to ensure that "there were at least one computer literate person and one entrepreneur in every family".

The Chief Minister said that few leaders have had the "good fortune" of being in a situation to build a capital city from a scratch. He committed to building "Amaravati" , the new state capital, into "one of the top five cities in the world" .

Inviting investments into the state, he said that he will "personally guarantee that they will receive clearances in 21 days" for their projects and invited them to "sign the MoUs first" and then judge the state government on "how fast we move".

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Andhra Pradesh Minister for IT, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Industries, Food Processing, Agri-Business, Commerce and Public Enterprises N Amaranatha Reddy were present at the summit.