KAKINADA: The GMR Group, the major stakeholder in the Kakinada Special Economic Zone is expediting the process of setting up units in the zone. Though anti-KSEZ forces are planning an agitation against it, AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is referring to KSEZ in all his meetings in East Godavari district. This fact alone makes the success of the KSEZ inevitable for the growth of industrial sector. The zone will provide more jobs to the youth in the area. With the encouragement of the Chief Mini-ster, KSEZ officials are going ahead with their plans. Already, a BPO centre and a toy manufacturing unit by a Chinese company have come up in the zone.
Several women have been trained in toy making and will get jobs. As many as 100 unemployed youth, including women, have got jobs in the BPO centre. The KSEZ has already inked MoUs with Guizhou International Investment Corporation (GIIC), China, which set up an industrial park in 2,000 acres to facilitate Chinese companies in KSEZ. An estimated US $2.5 to $3.5 billion investment is expected in the next five years through these companies.
According to GMR sources, the Chinese companies are into power equipment, electronics, wind and solar energy, smart technologies etc. They are planning to set up their manufacturing units in KSEZ. The sources said that the Environment Impact Ass-essment Report has been finalised for building the Greenfield Port in Kona area, as a part of KSEZ. The KSEZ is a part of Visakhapatnam-Kakinada, Petro Chemicals and Petroleum Investment Region (PCPIR).
According to PCPIR report, there nearly 9,000 acres of land is available in the KSEZ, including over 2,000 acres in Kona that was acqui-red by the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corpora-tion in 2008, besides another 6,270 acres which is not in Kona area. According to sources, nearly 2,500 acres of land has already been allotted to Chinese and other companies in the KSEZ. Besides, the APIIC acquired nearly 280 acres in Thammavaram village, of which 74 acres is under litigations.
