The Hindu Business Line : AP plans `strategic growth corridor' in coastal region

WAITING FOR PHARMA CITY BENEFITS: The young and the old of Parawada in Vishakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh gather at the stone laying ceremony of the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City on Saturday. Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister, who laid the stone for the project, has assured more jobs to the rural youth of the coastal region of the State. -- A. Roy Chowdhury

Parawada (Visakhapatnam) , Sept. 25

AIMED at transforming the Coastal Andhra region into a `strategic growth corridor' that could attract investments of over Rs 20,000 crore, the Andhra Pradesh Government has firmed up major industrial development plans for the region that involves connecting the Gangavaram Port, the Pharma City and the AP Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) to the National Highway.

Announcing this immediately after laying a foundation stone for the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City here on Saturday, developed by Ramky Pharmacity (India) Ltd of the Chennai-based Ramky Group, the AP Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said the State Government is keen to accelerate the process of industrialisation of the Visakhapatnam region, mainly from Kakinada to Srikakulam.

Along with the Pharma City, coming up at an estimated infrastructure cost of Rs 182 crore, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the first phase of Rs 617-crore Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Project, developed by the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) in alliance with Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (APIIC).

While L&T holds 51 per cent equity in the Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company Ltd (VIWSCO), the balance is shared by the APIIC and the Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (VMC).

"Taking advantage of the natural resources available in the region, the Government proposes to provide thrust to greater development of industrial infrastructure here," Dr Reddy said.

The Chief Minister announced that the APIIC would conceptualise a master plan by incorporating these development goals to undertake feasibility study and subsequent project development. Stating that the development would be through a public-private partnership model, he said the Government would regulate development through strict norms of land use and by creation of land banks.

Allaying the apprehensions over the focus on information technology, Dr Reddy said the Government would promote Visakhapatnam as a tier-II town for locating IT parks. Towards this, around 1,000 acres of land is being identified and kept at the disposal of APIIC.

Expecting that the natural gas reserves would be commercially exploited from early 2007, he said Visakhapatnam would be connected to this gas grid and the conclaves emerging on the Coastal Corridor would be connected to it.

The Chief Minister said that as part of first phase of the Coastal Corridor from Kakinada to Visakhapatnam, an additional trunk route for passenger vehicles is being opened up. In the second phase, the same Corridor would be extended from Visakhapatnam to Srikakulam and from Kakinada to Machilipatnam.

Stating that the Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply project would deliver 10 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water to the city, Dr Reddy said the Government was keen to bring another 25 TMC of water through the Polavaram Irrigation Project.

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