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Jagan lays stone for ₹14,000 cr Ramayapatnam port in Nellore
He was addressing a meeting after laying foundation stone for construction of Ramayapatnam major port in Nellore district.
Andhra Pradesh will get four more new ports in the next five years, in addition to the existing six ports, which would give a big boost to the economy of the state and generate massive employment opportunities to the locals, chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said on Wednesday.
He was addressing a meeting after laying foundation stone for construction of Ramayapatnam major port in Nellore district. The port would be completed in two phases with a total budget outlay of over ₹14,000 crore.
The chief minister said since Independence, there were only six ports in the state – Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, Kakinada-I, Kakinada-II, Krishnapatnam and Rawa. “We are now constructing four more ports, including Ramayapatnam, Kakinada Gateway, Machilipatnam and Bhavanapadu, to boost the economic activity, employment generation and overall development,” he said.
He assured that each port would provide indirect employment to lakhs of people as the government is also setting up nine fishing harbours in addition to these ports. “The Ramayapatnam port will bring down the cost of transportation significantly, besides providing employment to 10,000 people directly and 30,000 indirectly,” he said, adding that 75 percent of the jobs in the port would be reserved for the locals.
He said Ramayapatnam port would be constructed in two phases. The first phase would cost ₹3,736.14 crore and the final phase ₹10,640 crore. “The port will be built by Ramayapatnam Port Development Corporation Limited, under the state government organization AP Maritime Board,” he said.
The chief minister said in the first phase, the Ramayapatnam port will consist of four berths. The four berths will be constructed keeping cargo, coal, and containers in mind. “The government in addition has set an export target of 25 million tonne per year with the first phase. In the second phase, the government plans to expand to 138.54 million tonne per year, with a total of 19 berths being constructed,” he said.
The port will play a crucial role in industrial, commercial, and transport services for many districts including Rayalaseema, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Ranga Reddy, and Hyderabad in Telangana.
The port will be serving purposes such as transportation of coal, iron ore, granite, food grains, and other grains including rice, cement, fertilizers, tobacco, chili, aqua products, containers, etc to other states like Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Maharashtra.
The government, which has undertaken the construction of 9 shipping harbours for ₹3,500 crore, will complete the construction of 4 harbours as part of phase 1, he added.
On this occasion, Jagan thanked the people of Mondivaripalem, Avulavaripalem, Karlapalem, Ravuru, Chevuru, and Salipeta villages for giving away their lands to the port. He later distributed rehabilitation and resettlement pattas to the displaced families.
