The industrial sector in the port city is pinning high hopes on the slew of measures taken by the State government and the Centre to provide a conducive ambience for the investors, with the single window clearance system topping on the bill.
The introduction of single window system that guarantees a time-bound and hassle-free clearance mechanism to the upcoming projects and the decision to set up country-specific helpdesks will attract good investments, industrialists say.
Further a comprehensive portal is being developed to put business related information in public domain which would be a great help and a proposal to provide handholding services in the form of local information and expertise would roll out a red carpet to investors looking for opportunities in the State, they observe, while welcoming the initiatives.
However, a goal-oriented approach in this direction would be required. “We want specific timelines to achieve the goals set by the government,” remarked Andhra Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation vice-president G. Sambasiva Rao.
The state-of-the-art R&D centres and quality human capital to attract FDI to the State are also planned.
The government has decided to provide bespoke investor facilitation and develop a Manpower Information System (MIS) to disseminate information timely on relevant the issues and promote sector-specific and market-drive curriculum through industry-academia collaborations.
Among the series of initiatives, world-class incubation centres will be encouraged to promote the start-up culture. It has been proposed to set up incubation centres in Smart Industrial Townships, premier educational institutions, mega industrial parks and a mega incubation centre at Indian Institute of Management-Visakhapatnam on PPP mode.
The government will set up Industrial Area Development Authorities under Article 243 Q of the Constitution to encourage investment into sector-specific investment zones, industrial parks and industrial corridor nodes. Industrial corridors will be structured on node-based approach as part of Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor. Funding to create required infrastructure has been promised by Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The nodes will come at Visakhapatnam and Srikalahasti-Yerpedu (both phase-I), Kakinada and Gannavaram-Kankipadu (phase-II). Under Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, a node will be developed at Krishnapatnam in Nellore district.
Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region will also facilitate several sector-specific industrial parks at Visakhapatnam, Nakkapalli and Kakinada.
“If the grandiose plans materialise, no doubt AP will become a front-ranking industrialised States taking advantage of India’s second largest coastline after Gujarat,” said CII Vizag zone chairman Neeraj Sarda.
(Reporting by
Santosh Patnaik)
