Visakhapatnam: Gati Shakti initiatives to put India on global map

Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh is the actual gateway to the East Coast in terms of being the closest ports to most of the eastern, central and northern landlocked states, said CEO of AP Maritime Board K Muralidharan.

He was speaking at the seminar on 'Gati Shakti Initiatives', a Rs.100 lakh crore national master plan (NMP) for multi-modal connectivity launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at Sagarmala convention hall here on Thursday. Elaborating further, Muralidharan mentioned that major infrastructure project initiatives under PM Gati Shakti NMP such as telecom, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, industrial corridors, ports and integrated road and rail infrastructure will enhance development plans of AP maritime and eventually increase efficiency of AP ports through huge reduction in logistics costs, increase in cargo handling capacity and bring down the turn-around time.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) K Rama Mohana Rao said, "The target of the Gati Shakti is to take the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2025, integrating all the infrastructure and sectors, including road, rail, aviation and sea. The initiatives will give a big boost to the economic growth of the country." Additional Commissioner of Customs Aarti Saxena highlighted the paperless interventions while dealing with the customs.

Divisional Railway Manager Anup Satpathy and Deputy Chairman of VPA Durgesh Dubey, among others, addressed the gathering at the seminar.