If works on the development of Bandar Port have to be started, the government has to acquire at least 4,000 acres of private land in the neighbouring villages of the port town and hand over the same for making progress in infrastructural development works, said Machilipatnam Port Limited chief executive officer K. Prabhakar Reddy here on Monday.
He was making a power-point presentation to the representatives of various political parties, officials and people from various walks of life on the prospects of the port. Mr. Reddy, who represents the port developer Navayuga Engineering Company Limited, said that 4,000 acres of private land was needed for developing a large-scale, competitive and container port at Bandar, so that there would be a lot of potential for imports and exports and trade and commerce.
The port, once developed, would have tremendous potential considering the fact that it was easily accessible and nearer to the consumer goods-manufacturing countries like China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Modern facilities
Mr. Reddy said that in just two years, there was a lot of development in the surrounding areas of Krishnapatnam port in Nellore district, which was being developed by the Navayuga group, with edible oil companies and power plants coming up on a large scale. The same kind of modern and technical facilities would be developed at Machilipatnam to make it the most attractive destination for importers and exporters. He said that the private land that was required to be acquired in several villages was mostly waste land with casuarinas and eucalyptus plantations being grown here and there. Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries K. Parthasarathy said that the government was ready to start the process of acquiring land from the villages in the surrounding areas of Machilipatnam, provided there was cooperation and coordination from all groups and sections of the society without any misgivings or doubts. The existing 2,000 acres of government land lay along the coastline as a horizontal stretch and was not enough for the development of infrastructural facilities like huge godowns and yards.
Machilipatnam MP Konakalla Narayana Rao appealed to the government to hasten the process of land acquisition and hand it over to the developers so that the long-cherished dream of the people of Machilipatnam and Krishna district would be fulfilled. Representatives of Bharatiya Janata Party also wanted the port to be developed immediately by overcoming minor hurdles. There was a minor scuffle when a few political activists tried to distribute pamphlets.
