Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurated the Gangavaram Port, the deepest port in the country, here on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister emphasised the need to develop a port each in every coastal district of Andhra Pradesh.
“With the commissioning of the Gangavaram Port, more industrialisation and economic growth will happen in the region in the coming years. We are expecting more ports to come up in the state, especially in a public-private partnership mode,” he said.
Andhra Pradesh have about 1,000 kilometres of coastal line. The government should properly use this coastline for all-round development of the state, Accordingly, the current government has taken initiatives to develop ports like Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and Nizampatnam, he added.
The state government is contemplating developing a petrochemical complex in the Visakhapatnam area, which would help the Gangavaram Port to handle more cargo, the chief minister said.
Some sticky issues related to the implementation of the rehabilitation package for the land losers are pending. The port management should solve these issues at the earliest, said Purandeswari, minister of state for human resource development.
The DVS Raju consortium has invested Rs 1,850 crore in developing the Gangavaram Port. In Phase-I, five berths with a capacity to handle 200,000 deadweight tonne (DWT) capesize vessels.
“The port will reduce the ship turnaround and waiting time, besides reducing per-tonne ocean-freight owing to large parcel sizes at deep-draft berths,” port chairman and managing director DVS Raju said.
