Andhra Pradesh Transport Minister Siddha Raghava Rao has revealed the road map that his Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu has for the 13-district state.
With the capital city being more or less finalized, the ministers are trying their best to avoid any bad feelings or repercussions from the Prakasam district, which was a hot contender for the development of the new capital city.
Raghava Rao says that Babu is keen on creating a new world which will transform Andhra Pradesh into an envious destination.
For starters, he says there will be the Visakha-Chennai industrial corridor. Under this, plans are on to connect the ports of both the cities with a four-lane road bordering the coastline, he revealed.
Similarly, construction of new ports at Machilipatnam, Ramayapatnam, Dugarajapatnam will also be taken up he added. Babu’s ambitious plans also include the construction of a new airport between Ongole and Nellore. Apart from this, world-class educational institutions will also be set up here.
Raghava Rao also confides that Babu intends to put the 54,000 acres of land in Donakonda of Prakasam district to ‘good’ use. He finally added that plans are on to study the feasibility of developing the new capital city in the vicinity of Vijayawada-Guntur.
In addition to the above mentioned plans, the AP government also plans to develop ports along the coastline. Already, the state has five big ports, if the government has its way and goes ahead with its plans, then the big question is will they have enough business to survive or at least sustain themselves? Also, developing a port is no easy matter. It requires pumping in huge amounts of money.
On the other hand, the officials have also announced the development of a new airport in Cudappah. There are airports in Vizag, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and Tirupati. Now, Cudappah will be added to the list.
Well, Babu and his team are surely painting a rather exciting and colourful picture for the state of Andhra Pradesh. But we cannot help but wonder if Andhra Pradesh will end up being a state of ports and airports in distant future.
