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As the controversy rages over the central assistance to the residual state of Andhra Pradesh, the state government is insisting on the construction of a major port at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district, as promised, but due to a number of reasons the site is found to be not suitable by experts.
In the backdrop, a demand is being revived again to shift the proposed port and locate it at Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district as the site is found to be more suitable for the construction of a major port.
In fact, the proposal to construct two major ports—one at Sagar in West Bengal and the other at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district—was mooted much before the bifurcation of the State and a technical committee was appointed. The expert committee found that Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district was not suitable, as the space research station (SHAR) was located in the vicinity and further the Pulicat lake was also in the vicinity. The construction of a port would jeopardise the lake, it was pointed out.
The Congress Government, then in power with N Kiran Kumar Reddy as the Chief Minister, then suggested in 2013 that the port be located at Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district. He offered to bear the land acquisition cost and the also the relief and rehabilitation package cost. The total outlay of the port at that time was estimated at Rs 25,000 crores.
However, the Dugarajapatnam major port proposal was again revived in the AP State Re-organisation Act, 2014, but the technical objections to the location of the port still remain.
The Ongole Development Council has appealed to the State Government to send a new proposal, or revive the proposal of the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government, to locate the major port at Ramayapatnam. Ramayapatnam, the council points out, is more suitable, as it is much nearer to Rayalaseema and the land-locked Telangana state besides the south coastal district than Dugarajapatnam. Further, it does not suffer from the disadvantages of the latter.
The proposed petrochemical complex in the State can also be located at Ramayapatnam, instead of Kakinada, to make the port more viable.
At present, there is only one major port in the State, Visakhapatnam, located in the north-coastal AP and the need for a second major port in south-coastal AP is felt, as the State has a long coastline of nearly 1,000 km.
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