Ap Planning Mega Industrial Corridor
The 185-km long sea face between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada on the eastern coast will be converted into a mega industrial corridor, said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The corridor will be serviced by four highly mechanised and modern ports. Besides the existing Visakhapatnam and Kakinada ports, the Gangavaram and Muthyalammapalam ports both within 25 kms south of Visakhapatnam will also be used.
Announcing this here late Monday night, the Chief Minister said that the four ports and the mega industrial parks in the corridor will be interlinked by a four-lane super highways to ensure fast movement of goods.
The super highway will form part of the state governments grandiose plan to make the Visakhapatnam-Chennai sector of national highway no-5 a four-lane super highway.
Naidu was addressing representatives of the Itochu Corporation and Mitsui Petrochemical Industries after they had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indo Rama Group for equity participation in a Rs 1,200 crore PTA project at Visakhapatnam.
Naidu saw a bright future for Visakhapatnam as a major industrial hub on the eastern coast with several financial institutions headquartered in the city.
Hyderabad will remain the political capital of Andhra Pradesh, but Visakhapatnam will become the financial capital, he said.
The Chief Minister said he would soon visit Japan to coerce major industrial houses to invest in Andhra Pradesh. The Japanese ambassador in India had recently led a delegation of Japanese industrialists to the state. The delegation had been impressed by the dynamism and quick decisions being taken by the state government.
Naidu claimed that he had at last been able to build an industry and investment friendly bureaucracy, and those seeking to invest in the state would not come across any redtape.
We are fast moving towards a goal where every action of the government will be transparent, he said.
He said as convenor of the United Front which was in power in New Delhi, he would also be in a position to sort out any problems in the way of massive foreign investment in the state.
On his part, he said he would offer special tailor-made incentive packages on a case-to-case basis for mega industries coming up in the state. For some projects, especially those in the infrastructure sector like ports, power, highways and telecommunications, the government has decided on the open bid route.