Chandrababu Naidu to lay stone for Bhogapuram airport and Adani Data Park today

VISAKHAPATNAM: With barely a few hours left for the election code to come into force, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be participating in a host of foundation-laying and inauguration ceremonies in the city on Thursday. He will formally inaugurate works of two big-ticket projects, including Bhogapuram international airport, and commission Asian Paints plant here. Notification for MLC elections is expected to be issued on Thursday.

The Chief Minister will visit Bhogapuram in the morning to lay foundation stone for the greenfield airport. From there, he will proceed to Kapuluppada IT SEZ where he will lay foundation stone for Data Centre Park, being set up by Adani Group.

Later, Chandrababu Naidu will formally inaugurate the Asian Paints plant in Rambilli mandal from airport before leaving for Vijayawada.

The Adani group signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government in the first week of January this year to develop the Rs 70,000 crore project. As part of the project, submarine communication cables will be laid to connect India with South-East Asia nations. “The facility will position the State as a data centre hub for the country and Southeast Asia. It will help ensure speedy telecommunication network,” said an official. It will also be integrated with a cable landing station that will take advantage of the State’s long coastline to help provide the needed global connectivity and redundancy that the country needs to manage its exponential growth of data, he said.

The Adani Group, which is making a foray into digital space, will support development of the digital and energy infrastructure in the State over a period of 20 years.  The project, completely  backed by renewable energy, is expected to create 1,00,000 direct and indirect jobs. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Asian Paints plant was set up at Pudi in Rambilli mandal with an approximate investment of Rs 1,785 crore over 20 years.The Asian Paints management had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Andhra Pradesh in 2015 to set up the manufacturing facility for paints and intermediates.The Andhra Pradesh government offered incentives for the plant including reimbursement of 100 per cent Gross VAT/State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) for 12 years starting from the date of commercial production.

Bhogapuram Greenfield Airport will be located at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district. It will serve the needs of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts apart from Visakhapatnam.The airport being developed under PPP mode will come up on 5,311 acres in and around Bhogapuram, including 1,673 acres of government land.

The State government plans to complete the phase one of the airport development by December 2020. Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL) had earlier increased the estimated investment required for the development of Bhogapuram Airport from Rs 23 billion to Rs 42.1 billion.

Naidu to open IT Millennium Tower at Madhurawada

Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday will inaugurate a seven-storeyed iconic Millennium Tower which was constructed at a cost of Rs 145 crore at Madhurawada Hill No 3. Conduit will begin operations in the tower. In the first phase,  it will provide jobs to 1,600 and within one year 4,500 would be employed. The tower will have 2 lakh square feet and it was built by AP Information Technology and Communications department on a 4-acre site. Minister for IT and Panchayat Raj Nara Lokesh will also attend the inaugural programme.