AP govt decides to develop three ports on its own

: The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet on

Wednesday decided to develop three ports in the state on its own, Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah said.

The ports are at Bhavanapadu (Srikakulam district), Machilipatnam (Krishna) and Ramayapatnam (Prakasam), he told reporters here.

Though Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, requested the Centre to fund the Ramayapatnam port, the Cabinet decided to undertake it on its own along with Bhavanapadu and Machilipatnam.

The Bhavanapadu port development was originally handed over to Adani Ports and SEZ Limited in January 2018 by the then Chandrababu Naidu government but the infra major recently wrote to the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government stating it was withdrawing from the project for various reasons.

 

The YSR Congress government last year cancelled the Machilipatnam port project, awarded to Navayuga, as it did not make any headway in more than a decade.

The previous TDP government proposed to develop a major port at Ramayapatnam after the proposal to build a port at Dugarajapatnam in SPS Nellore district did not materialise.

The Centre was supposed to develop a port at Dugarajapatnam in accordance with the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, but the project was found unviable because of its proximity to the Krishnapatnam port and other factors.

The YSRC government decided to go ahead with the development of Ramayapatnam port and recently curtailed the territorial limits of the Krishnapatnam port.