Capital Region Development Authority (AP-CRDA) Commissioner N. Srikanth has said the government will be finalising the land allotment policy in a few days.
It will lend clarity on the current regime of allotment of land for industries and other sectors.
The government has decided to denotify 50,000 acres of forest in Krishna and Guntur districts to pave the way for construction of the Amaravati capital city.
The denotification process was under process, he said at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Vijayawada zone’s annual meeting-cum-public session on ‘Build Amaravati- invest in development, a shared responsibility’ here on Saturday.
On the occasion, Mr. Srikanth said the absorption of a large number of manpower available in the agriculture sector in the region, into industries and other non-agricultural activities was a challenge faced by the government.
“Imparting skills to make them industry-ready was another task on the hands of the government. There are up to 30,000 able-bodied workers out of one lakh population in the villages where the capital city will be coming up in just over a year from now. Nearly Rs. 25,000 crore will be spent during the period.”
Mr. Srikanth further said a highway with 60 metre right of way from Vijayawada to the upcoming capital city Amaravati and 300 km of arterial roads in the capital region were among the slew of infrastructure projects on the anvil.
The government also contemplated to build an iconic bridge to the seed capital across the river Krishna.
The CRDA Commissioner further said non-polluting industries were planned to be set up in 400 to 500 acres in the core capital.
Opportunities
The opportunities galore in AP capital region evoked global interest, he said. China, Japan, Singapore, UK and some other developed countries came forward to set up industries.
Some Chinese investors mooted a barter system under which AP would, for instance, set up IT and pharmaceutical industries in China and the Chinese would reciprocate by investing in the sectors in which they carved a niche for themselves.
‘Involve local entrepreneurs’
CII Vijayawada zone chairman and KCP Sugars COO G. Venkateswara Rao said the AP government should think of a mechanism wherein local entrepreneurs and industries are compulsorily involved in the capital city construction, by the foreign agencies / companies to pass to them at least a portion of the benefits arising from the development activity.
‘Bring natural gas to
the capital region’
Better Castings CEO J.S.R.K. Prasad suggested to Mr. Srikanth that some energy-intensive industries could be attracted to the capital region by bringing the natural gas that is available in huge quantities in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Cyient Ltd. president (corporate affairs & infrastructure) B. Ashok Reddy, ITC-ILTD vice-president (exports & logistics) H.N. Ram Prasad and Confederation of Indian Industry Vijayawada zone vice-chairman P. Venkat Ram Reddy were among those who spoke.
Providing gainful employment to agri workers is a major challenge: CRDA Commissioner
