Centre proposes Vadarevu as alternative port

Amaravati: Proposing to develop Vadarevu as a major port in Prakasam district along AP coast, Union Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari wrote a letter to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Gadkari requested the state government to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for this proposed port to be developed jointly by the state and the Centre, according to sources. Officials informed that they received the letter on Thursday from Union government.

The proposed port is an alternative to the Duggarajapatnam port, which is mandated to Central government under AP Reorganisation Act. Instead of constructing Duggarajapatnam port, the central government is proposing alternative port. Gadkari and central government virtually rejected the idea of constructing Duggarajapatnam port, many times.

Interestingly, the officials in the Department of Ports, AP government observed that the proposed port would fall under the Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Industrial Corridor (Vanpic) limits.

The Vanpic is in courts and facing many legal problems from 2012 onwards. Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation departments attached the lands taken under the Vanpic, in corruption cases. There are many legal complications involved in constructing port at Vanpic, the officials said.

Officials explain that it would be highly difficult to construct the proposed port without clearing the pending cases. The state government is wondering how the Centre ignore the AP Reorganisation Act and go for an alternative project. 

“The Vanpic is very badly entangled. Though the Central government was claiming that they could resolve all the legal issues, it is not in the near future that it could be solved,” a senior officer observed. 

Unless the Central government amend the AP Reorganisation Act, they could not shift the location of major port from Duggarajapatnam port to any other area, said the official. 

It is estimated that for construction of proposed major port at Vadarevu, the state government has to acquire at least 30,000 acres of land. Meanwhile, the state government recently released a government order to establish non-major port at Ramayapatnam.