The Andhra Pradesh Government issued a GO on Wednesday, allotting 5,300 acres of land to the construction of Machilipatnam (popularly known as Bandar) port.

The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who participated in the Praja Padham programme here, made the announcement at a public meeting that the State Government was really sincere about taking up the port works.

The port project, it may be noted, was awarded to Navayuga Engineering Company in 2010 by the State Government, in the wake of Satyam scandal.

Earlier, the project had been awarded to Maytas of the Satyam group, but the work could not be taken due to various reasons.

Even after the State Government had chosen Navayuga Engineering Company to execute the Bandar port project, no headway could be made and there was a lot of confusion on how much land should be allocated to the project.

Recently, opposition parties intensified the agitation for the Bandar port project in Krishna district and earlier this month a bandh was observed in Vijayawada, here and other parts of the district.

It was in the backdrop that the Chief Minister, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy, visited the port town on Wednesday and made the announcement on the GO relating to land allotment.

He appealed to the Opposition parties not to politicise the issue and co-operate with the Government in the construction of the port and the all-round development of the region.

He said 1,650 acres immediately available with the Government would be handed over to NEC for starting work on the project.

The remaining land would be acquired and handed over later. The works would be executed in a transparent manner.

In the first phase, it is envisaged to construct three berths here at a cost of Rs 1,600 croreand ultimately 12 berths will be built to handle cargo of 35 million tonnes.

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