Hyderabad,
June 19: Power production, ports and oil and natural gas are to play a
pivotal role in driving prosperity in Andhra Pradesh in future,
according to experts.
With
nearly 1000 km-long coast line, the coastal Andhra has major private
ports such as Krishnapatnam, Kakinada and Gangavaram besides state-owned
Vizag Port and can continue to reap rich harvest by way of export and
import of commodities such as iron ore and coal.
“As much as 20000 mw additional power capacity is targeted during the 12th five-year plan and beyond in Andhra Pradesh including
6000 mw nuclear power plant to be set by the Nuclear Power Corporation
at Kovvada in Srikakulam District,” a senior Government official said.
Once
the KG-basin gas production picks up gas-based power plants located in
Seemandhra region will generate more power leading to a power-surplus
state. The Central Government should create necessary infrastructure for
evacuation of power which is expected to generate from the upcoming
projects a senior executive of a power producing company said.
Jawaharlal
Pharma City near Visakhapatnam came up in 2005 with an aim to attact
investment opportunities from drug makers by establishing their
manufacturing facilities. Though it is yet to attain full capacity in
terms of number of units and production, Pharma majors such as Dr
Reddy's and Mylon have alreay set up thier shops there.
Petroleum,
Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR), for which Central
approval was obtained in 2008, envisages an investment of Rs.3,43,000
crore by attracting investments in infrastructure and petrochemical
units in an area of 610 sq. km in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari
districts.
State-owned
HPCL is already in discussions with another PSU- GAIL for a possible
tie up for setting up a 51-million tons petrochemical complex in the
PCPIR, with an investment outlay of USD 12 billion.
As
of now most of the IT, Engineering, Manufacturing, Pharama, Bitotech,
Aerospace, Cement and Automobile spear parts manufacturing units are
situated in and around the Hyderabad city.
The city also houses a host of State-owned major Industries such as BHEL, ECIL, DRDO and other Defense related manufacturing units.
According Industrial department officials information including all kinds of industrial units number reached one lakh in
the Telangana region. These industrial units provided 17, 43,782 jobs.
Hyderabad has become focul point in country’s industrial development.
“If they ( Andhra Pardesh Government ) want to significance development that is comparable to Hyderabad city the new state should wait another 10 years’’ a senior bureaucrat said.
Observers
feel that that the new state should spend most of its resources for at
least nearly four two five years to bring to a shape in terms of
creating industrial opportunities for investors.
