Krishnapatnam industrial city gets 2,139 acres

Visakhapatnam: In a shot in the arm to the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) project, the Andhra Pradesh government has accorded administrative sanction to the APIIC Ltd for allotment of land to NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Ltd (NKICDL) for the development of Krishnapatnam Industrial Node (KIN).

An amount of Rs 1,448 crore will be spent for the infrastructure works to be taken up in Krishnapatnam Node under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) project. According to GO Ms No 30 issued by the Industries and Commerce (Infra) Department on May 11, for transfer of activation area land to an extent of 2,139.15 acres is allotted from the total area of CBIC of SPSR Nellore district from APIIC to the Special Purpose Vehicle - NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Ltd exempting the value of stamp duty to a tune of Rs 34 crore on such transfer. The Union government is developing various industrial corridor projects as part of National Industrial Corridor Programme which is aimed at development of futuristic industrial cities in India for competing with the best manufacturing and investment destinations in the world through an SPV namely National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) Limited.

The SPV has a mandate to establish, promote and facilitate development of industrial corridor projects in the country. Further a trust fund was set up in the name of National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) to carry out the project development and implementation activities. The CBIC is one of the five industrial corridors envisaged by GoI connecting the key metropolitan economic hubs of the country along Chennai, Bengaluru and Chitradurga with an overall length of about 560 km. This development will have an influence area spread across the States of Karnataka, AP and Tamil Nadu.

Krishnapatnam in AP is one of the three nodes on this corridor and also falls in the influence zone of the Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC). This Node is in the proximity of Krishnapatnam Port, offering locational benefits to export and import oriented industries in tapping the South Asian economic centres. The GO states that as per the preliminary design report (PDR) of CBIC Node, it was envisaged that around 1 million direct and indirect jobs will be generated by 2040 from the identified industrial sectors like food processing, automobile and auto components, textile and wearing apparels, chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing of electrical equipment and manufacturing of computer electronics and optical products that have been identified as enablers for faster development of the region.

As per the Initial master plan and SSA signed, the total land available for development has been identified as 11,096 acres and the Node spreads across two sites of about 60 km apart, i.e. North Node and South Node. The North Node is located along the coastline south of Krishnapatnam Port in SPSR Nellore district. The North Node is about 20 Kms east of NH-16 and presently connected through existing State highways/ district/ village roads from NH-16.

The North Node covers eight villages in Chillakuru and Kota mandals, SPSR Nellore district. The overall site area is 11,096 acres. The North Node is further subdivided into three phases based on the timeline of its development. The development of Phase-1 of North Node is planned to be commenced first followed by other phases of North Node and subsequently South Node. The State government, NICDIT, and APIIC have entered into a State Support Agreement (SSA) and Shareholders' Agreement (SHA) on November 29, 2017. As per the terms of the SHA, the entire project site identified under Krishnapatnam Industrial Node needs to be transferred in the name of the SPV for availing the grant from GoI. Considering this, in-principle approval was accorded for transfer of land in the name of the SPV, according to R Karikal Valaven, Special Chief Secretary.