South coastal Andhra people’s dream project of Ramayapatnam sea port will soon become a reality with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday performing “bhoomi puja” and initiating the construction works at an initial cost of ₹3,740 crore to spur port-led industrial growth in the region.
Elaborating on his government's grandiose maritime vision with a view to add 100 million tonne cargo handling capacity by setting up a string of sea ports on the east coast, Mr. Jagan said four more ports would come up at Ramayapatnam, Bhavanapadu, Kakinada Gateway port and Machilipatnam, as also nine fishing harbours to generate lakhs of employment opportunities.
“People of the State with 974 km coastline need not go to far away places such as Gujarat from now, as for every 50 km, a port or a fishing harbour will become functional to generate lakhs of jobs within the State itself,” Mr. Jagan said amid loud cheer from the assembled gathering.
Cargo handling
Mr. Jagan said that initially four berths would be created at Ramayapatnam with a view to handling 25 million tonnes of cargo. The cargo handling capacity would be scaled up to 50 million tonnes over a period, he said, adding once the four ports became functional, the State's cargo handling capacity would go up to 328 million tonnes.
The Chief Minister said local people would get 75% of the jobs not only in the port but also in the industrial corridor to be promoted in the district as suggested by YSRCP MLA from Kavali Ramireddy Pratap Kumar Reddy.
Taking a dig at the previous Telugu Desam Party government, Mr. Jagan recalled that the foundation-stone for the port was laid by then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in February 2019 with an ulterior motive to gain political mileage and hoodwink the people. Neither land was acquired then nor detailed project report (DPR) was prepared then. Unlike the previous government, his government had acquired 850 acres of land and earmarked ₹3,740 crore for the construction works, he said.
Giving away patta to the displaced people in resettlement colonies, he thanked the people of Mondivaripalem, Avulavaripalem, Karlapalem, Ravuru, Chevuru, and Salipeta for parting with their lands for the project.
Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath said a large inexpensive land bank suitable for port and port-based industrial development was available here and it was ideally located close to Chennai-Kolkata highway and the South Central Railway line.
Ramayapatnam Port was needed to decongest the fast-increasing cargo traffic demand in South Andhra cluster. It also provided port connectivity to land-locked Telangana and Eastern Maharashtra and Karnataka. The first phase of the project would be completed in 18 to 24 months, the Minister said.
Acceding to the pleas of YSRCP MLA from Kandukur M. Mahidhar Reddy, the Chief Minister gave green signal for development works in the Kandukur constituency, which includes ₹25 crore for a bypass road for Kandukur for a distance of 6.2 km, and ₹27 crore for the extension of the left bank canal up to the Rallapadu irrigation project.
The Kandukur MLA thanked the Chief Minister for giving his nod for transfer of 1.17 tmcft of water from Veligonda project to Ralapadu proect.
SPSR Nellore district Collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said 850 acres of land had been acquired for the project, which was expected displace over 690 families. State Ministers Kakani Govardhan Reddy and Ambati Rambabu were among those present.
