Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Anand Kumar on Monday said that out of the box ideas were required to develop Visakhapatnam as an international city.
During his brief speech at a panel discussion on ‘North Coastal Andhra regional development: The way forward’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry here, he said Vizag had something for everyone.
“The city is blessed with excellent scenic beauty. The beach corridor project is being implemented to attract tourism on the entire stretch from Visakhapatnam to Bhimili,” he said, admitting that tourism potential had remained underexplored.
Vizag in top 10
CII Vizag zone chairman G.V.L. Satya Kumar said Vizag had emerged as the 10 developed city in contribution to GDP during 2012-13 with Hyderabad ranking fifth and Mumbai being the frontrunner.
VUDA Vice-Chairman N. Yuvaraj said the PCPIR proposed between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada was set to attract huge investments and explained how they were making efforts to get clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests. He said the Master Plan for PCPIR and Coastal Zone Management Plan would be finalised soon.
Varun Group chairman Prabhu Kishore said that the Coastal Regulation Zone restrictions had turned ‘draconian’ because of which a dozen projects with an employment potential of 10,000 had not been grounded. He sought relaxation of the guidelines to attract investment in tourism promotion.
Future bright for port CEO of Vizag Seaport Pvt. Ltd Ragam Kishore said certain roads should be dedicated to cargoes meant for the port for ensuring hassle-free movement of freight and said that both Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports had a bright future.
Executive director of Samudra Software Peter Schneeberger regretted the dominant role played by Hyderabad in State’s IT exports and called for development of anchor IT companies like HSBC.
CII Vizag zone vice-chairman Neeraj Sarda, former chairman G. Sambasiva Rao, Srinivasa Hatcheries vice-chairman Suresh Chitturi, Chaitanya College of Engineering principal M. Ramjee and others spoke.
