Vijayawada: Industries minister Mekapati Goutham said on Monday that works on three ports and nine fishing harbours will be taken up at a cost of Rs 18,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh.
Taking part in a PM Gati Sakthi programme to explain the national master plan for multimodal connectivity, held virtually by the Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, the state minister said the AP government had been according top priority to providing all basic transport facilities and is exploring new avenues to further the cause.
Referring to AP’s Panchasutras, the minister said. “We would develop ports and waterways, strengthen the telecom sector with fiber cable network, adopt new ways to enhance power generation and distribution, link regional airways under the Udan scheme to ports and interlink roads under the Bharatmala scheme, and expand freight transport systems to reduce transport charges.”
The minister said the AP government was ahead of other states in enhancing maritime-based wealth in addition to creating amenities at ports. “We are among the best in developing roads, rail routes and sea ports connecting airports so that multimodal transport cargo hubs and expansion of supply of natural gases would help the state achieve industrial and economic growth.”
The minister said three ports -- Bhavanapadu, Machilipatnam and Ramayapatnam -- and nine fishing harbours are being set up in the state at a cost of Rs 18,000 crore. “We are also developing three industrial corridors --the Visakhapatnam-Chennai, the Chennai-Bengaluru and the Bengaluru-Hyderabad -- connecting all the districts in the state so that we can provide employment opportunity to the youths and develop the roads system, water families and power supply.”
Meanwhile, the Centre has asked the state governments that each of them appoint a nodal officer to coordinate the implementation of the PM Gati Sakthi programme. The states have been asked to submit their opinions on the programme by March 2022.
