With repeated announcements by the State government on transforming Visakhapatnam into a mega industrial and financial hub, availability of land has become a key problem.
Though several multi-nationals and NRIs have shown interest to invest in and around the city, the largest in Andhra Pradesh with good rail, sea and air connectivity, the government is not in a position to grab offers for investments. Both APIIC, the nodal agency for allotting developed plots to industries, and the district administration are flooded with several investment offers.
Another common complaint from investors is that the developmental charges and lease rentals charged by APIIC are high. This was pointed out recently after a team from a Texas-based consortium of NRIs visited the city for setting up IT units.
During an interface with a team from ADB on Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor, Collector N. Yuvaraj said they had 6,940 acres at Nakkapalli, 4,702 acres at Atchutapuram, 1605 acres at Bhimili and 629 acres at Pydibhimavaram.
“In fact, ‘Destination Vizag’ showcased by the State government with the USP ‘Sunrise State’ has evoked a very good response. Unfortunately, there is not much availability of land free from litigation,” says MP K. Haribabu. “I myself do not have confirmed information on available lands though several pharma and other companies and premier educational and research institutes like Indian Institute of Packaging and Indian Institute of Plantation Management are ready to set up their campuses in the city,” he says and calls for creating a land bank to allot plots to prospective investors.
For Central institutes, the State is supposed to provide land free of cost without which they would not invest. The teething problems faced by SAMEER (Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research), an autonomous body under Ministry of Communications and IT is classical instance as to how difficult it is to get even 13 acres from APIIC after payment of development charges.
SAMEER is keen on investing Rs. 80 crore on India’s first Centre for Electromagnetic Environmental Effects. Electronics Manufacturing Cluster, a project cleared during UPA-II government, was shelved as 100 acres offered by APIIC near Parawada was found unsuitable. Now APIIC wants to revive the project by offering another land near Pendurthy.
“Under New Land Acquisition Act, acquiring land is more difficult. The State wants to introduce land pooling through APIIC on the lines of the policy being followed for developing new capital. This will also be a big challenge,” says CII Vizag zone vice-chairman Neeraj Sarda.
Reporting by
Santosh Patnaik
