ITIR will make Vizag international hub: Ponnala

He says he directed VUDA to lay a 100 feet road connecting Rushikonda to Gambheeram

HYDERABAD, 19/01/2011: Minister for Information Technology Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Joint Secretary (E-Governance Group), Ministry of Information Technology,Government of India, Shankar Aggarwal during Opening ceremony of Ninth edition “Technology Sabha-2011†at the Park Hotel in Hyderabad on Wednesday. ----- PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Development of second Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) in the State at Visakhapatnam after grounding the first project at Hyderabad will convert the city into an international hub for investments in IT and IT-Enabled Services.

ITIR proposed on an area of 50,000 acres in select pockets of Visakhapatnam will create residential, commercial and social infrastructure with massive investment. It will be developed on the lines of Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR), Minister for IT and Communications Ponnala Lakshmaiah told The Hindu .

The Minister, who was here to attend a workshop on development of Visakhapatnam Region as destination for IT investors on Monday, said facilities would be created soon through AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation at IT Park, Gambheeram, which has remained a non-starter, to attract investment.

Mr. Lakshmaiah said he had directed Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority to lay a 100 feet road connecting Rushikonda to Gambheeram through the highway. The first incubation centre being developed at Rushikonda with 50,000 square feet for plug-in and plug-out operators would become operational by year-end, he said.

An electronic city, for which site has to be identified, to encourage investments in electronic manufacturing clusters would be set up in the city with funds from the Central Government. He said the first-ever dedicated gaming, animation, media and entertainment city would be developed on the outskirts of Hyderabad in an area of 30 acres.

Stating that the availability of 4G services in Visakhapatnam would improve connectivity and make access to information cheap, he said Parawada mandal was being developed with 100 per cent broadband access to all the habitations under a pilot project.

Denying flight of investments from Andhra Pradesh due to power and other problems, he said the exports from IT stood at Rs.53,000 crore last year with a growth rate of 13-14 per cent. As per the government projects, despite the slowdown, the exports were poised to increase by 15-16 per cent during current fiscal.