For promoting Brand Vizag, the support services in the city need to be improved significantly to make it an ideal destination for investors.
Though air connectivity has improved of late with the introduction of direct flights to Singapore and Dubai, route rationalisation is required by the Railways to reduce freight cost for the transporting products made by the units here.
Failure to ensure free passage of traffic, particularly from the city to the industrial areas located at Gajuwaka and Atchutapuram, due to highway traffic passing through the city is a matter of serious concern among the existing units.
They have been demanding development of a bypass road from Anakapalle to Anandapuram along with construction of truck parking terminals.
“We have all the ingredients to become a world-class city. But we need good execution and focus on developing support services. Basic traffic management and hygiene are a casualty,” Sanjit Singh Lamba, Managing Director of Eisai Pharmatechnology and Manufacturing said at a meeting conducted by CII on “Visakhapatnam moving forward: Challenges & Opportunities” on Wednesday.
He said Vizag, with the setting up of Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City and Common Effluent Treatment Plant, the region had the scope to have a turnover of $1 billion from pharma turnover in next three years.
CII Vice-Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust G.V.L. Satya Kumar said there was a need to plan Light Rail Transit System (LRTS). The city’s growth was propelled by setting of the port in 1933.
“Once we complete mechanisation of coal and iron ore handling facilities, we will put an end to pollution caused by iron ore and coal in a couple of years,” he said.
Container traffic from the city is increasing at 35 per cent per year. The city has the country’s deepest container berth with an ability to handle big size vessels. “It can become a most sought after destination if the support facilities are developed. In fact, it has scope to be developed as a gateway to South East Asia in next five to six years through enforcement of zonal planning,” RINL Director (Commercial) T.K. Chand told The Hindu.
