Visakhapatnam to make big strides in Information Technology

Construction of a signature cyber town is among a slew of announcements made at the CII meeting. Principal Secretary (industries) J.S.V. Prasad said Vizag would become an important hub with the posting of an Executive Director in the office of APIIC. IT Advisor to government J. Satyanarayana said Vizag should have a signature tower as a landmark to promote its importance to the investors and called for proper utilisation of available land.

Posting of Executive Director of APIIC, construction of a signature cyber tower and international convention centre, and setting up of the headquarters of Electronics and IT Mission are some of the announcements made on Tuesday to make Visakhapatnam an international city. Another important promise is to allow units to de-notify from the purview of IT SEZ and grant of Industrial Area Local Authority to Rushikonda SEZ.

During an interactive session organised by CII, top officials of the State government said several big companies were ready to invest in the city. The meeting was earlier addressed by IT Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy and HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

Principal Secretary (industries) J.S.V. Prasad said Vizag would become an important hub with the posting of an Executive Director in the office of APIIC, the second top level post after the Managing Director to sort out the problems faced by entrepreneurs and promote Brand Vizag.

He said the government might consider the proposal to set up a cluster for IT investors in small and medium enterprises by allotting them 1,000 to 1500 square yards. He said the government might partner with Andhra University for construction of a modern convocation hall and later construct an international convention centre along with a five star hotel on the lines of HITEX, Hyderabad.

IT Advisor to government J. Satyanarayana said Vizag should have a signature tower as a landmark to promote its importance to the investors and called for proper utilisation of available land.

‘Bright future’

He saw a bright future for AP in general and Vizag in particular because of availability of talented pool of engineering and management graduates and underlined the need for collaborative programmes between educational institutions and industry.

Principal Secretary (IT) Sanjay Jaju said Rushikonda would be granted Industrial Area Local Authority for better maintenance and promised the entrepreneurs to consider their demand for de-notification for units willing opt out of the Special Economic Zone.