Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the officials to look into the possibilities of building a port at Rambilli area so that it would reduce the pressure on the Visakhapatnam Port and also reduce the pollution.
Santosh Patnaik
Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Government is contemplating construction of a new port under Public Private Partnership route at Rambilli, about 50 km from Visakhapatnam to decongest traffic at Visakhapatnam, the proposed Executive Capital of the State.
Visakhapatnam already has two ports-Visakhapatnam Port under the Government of India and Gangavaram Port under the backyard of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant through PPP mode.
Rambilli is strategically important as it is home to Naval Alternative Operations Base (NAOB), which will become the base for India’s indigenously made nuclear submarines named Arihant under INS Varsha project and the country’s second centre of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) after the one at Trombay. Visakhapatnam is the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command.
At a review meeting held at Tadepalli near here on Thursday, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said ports proposed at Bhavanapadu in Srikakulam, Machilipatnam in Krishna and Ramayapatnam in Prakasam district should be completed within two and half years.
He directed the officials to look into the possibilities of building a port at Rambilli area so that it would reduce the pressure on the Visakhapatnam Port and also reduce the pollution.
The officials explained the progress of development of works at Atchutapuram cluster and Nakkapalli cluster of Visakhapatnam node under the Visakhapatnam -Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC). They explained the activities in Srikalahasthi and Erpedu nodes and stressed the necessity of exploring promotion of air cargo.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to focus on developing air cargo facilities at Tirupati, Nellore and Kadapa airports. The officials stated the progress of works in Orvakalu node.
The Chief Minister said that industries should use desalination water as much as possible and added that desalination water costs only four paise per liter. He said this would save drinking water.
Reddy instructed to set up Sewage Sanitation Centers (SPTs) in industrial corridors and industrial areas to ensure groundwater is not polluted due to effluents released from industries.
He said that priority should be given to the construction of ports and fishing harbours. Construction of three ports and eight fishing harbours, development of Kopparthi industrial Cluster, Bhogapuram international airport, construction of beach road from Bhogapuram airport to Visakhapatnam city, construction of Metro Rail at Visakhapatnam and supplying drinking water from Polavaram to Visakhapatnam through pipeline are the high priority projects.
The Chief Minister asked the officials to prepare a DPR for Polavaram – Visakhapatnam drinking water supply project on a top priority.
The officials promised that they would finalise tenders and hand over the works of Ramayapatnam port by December 15 and works would begin in February next year (2021).
