Vizag will be developed as 5th largest economic city in the country says Lokesh

Visakhapatnam : Visakhapatnam is all set to be developed as the fifth largest economic city in India from the current 10th position and efforts are on to transform it into not just an IT hub of the State but also as the data centre capital of the world, asserted Minister for IT, Electronics and HRD Nara Lokesh.

Outlining a route map that is in place to push Andhra Pradesh into ‘numero uno’ position in the country, the Minister stated at the ‘Infrastructure summit’ of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) hosted in the city on Wednesday that the ease of doing is a thing of the past. “The focus is now on the speed of doing business as well as the cost of doing business,” he emphasised.

With a revived industry-friendly policy that is set to be rolled out soon, the HRD Minister mentioned, the State is steering towards development at a fast pace under the able leadership of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. “Save for the sole capital, the concentration is also on decentralisation of development to place all the districts on the growth trajectory,” Lokesh expressed confidence.

Kurnool will be developed as a centre for renewable energy. While Anantapur is growing as a mobility hub, Chittoor and Kadapa are getting revamped as electronics industrial centres. Similarly, the concentration is on the biofuel in Prakasam district, aqua farming and petrochemical corridor in Godavari districts as well. Besides the growth prospects in the capital region of Guntur and Krishna, the focus is also largely on North Andhra region which will be developed as a pharma hub, Lokesh elaborated at the summit, adding that Visakhapatnam is going to witness a drastic growth once Bhogapuram International Airport gets operational.

Calling upon industrialists to become partners in achieving the goal of creating 20 lakh jobs in the State, Lokesh exhorted them for a collaborated approach in realising the ambitious targets set by the State government in steering AP that lagged behind in terms of development during the YSRCP tenure, forward.

Visakhapatnam MP M Sribharat highlighted plans to place Bhogapuram Airport as one of the top 10 air traffic destinations in the country. Lauding the efforts of the APEPDCL for its remarkable achievements in the recent past, the MP said that the DISCOM is certain to get into the top place soon through its committed efforts and initiatives. To streamline the traffic and enhance connectivity, the MP mentioned that a dozen flyovers proposed along the Anakapalli-Bheemunipatnam route would be transformed into three expressways. Minister for Roads and Buildings, Infrastructure and Investments BC Janardhan Reddy stressed on the potential of the public-private-people partnership model in driving infrastructure development in AP.

GBS Raju, business chairman-Airports, GMR Group said, “Every rupee spent on infrastructure would result in a 2.5 per cent increase in GDP.”

Dr V Muralikrishna, chairman, CII Andhra Pradesh stressed the need for power, social and digital infrastructure to elevate AP into a globally competitive player.

Rajesh Gandhi, chairman, CII Visakhapatnam, among others, spoke at the summit that highlighted the theme ‘Focus on opportunities, finance, growth and developing future’.