By SNV Sudhir
Visakhapatnam, May 10, 2012: Call it Telangana affect or being an ideal place, Vizag has turned out to be a favourite destination for investments after Hyderabad. More than 100 companies have readied their plans to establish industries in Vizag.
Availability of manpower, better logistics, both air and sea connectivity, has made Vizag a favourite destination for investors.
Interestingly, of the total 104 industry enterprise memorandums (IEMs) signed by investors since 2002, 80 were signed after 2009, when the stir for separate statehood peaked.
The 104 industry proposals are all set to bring in Rs 85,000 crore investments to this region besides providing more than 36,000 jobs to skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled local unemployed youth.
“Of the 104, more than 40 per cent of the companies have reached an ‘active stage’ and will begin operations within a couple of years. Around Rs.30,000 crore investments would be pumped in the first stage,” district industries centre general manager, V.R. Nayak told this correspondent.
Though some IEMs were signed in 2002, these companies have also swung into action and begun construction and other activities only after 2009. Another interesting point is that these investments are not part of state government’s prestigious PCPIR project coming up between Vizag and Kakinada.
Besides domestic firms, international companies also show interest in establishing their industries in the Vizag region.
For instance, the US-based Brighton Group evinced interest in setting up a Rs.2,880 crore nuclear power equipment manufacturing facility in this region and signed an MoU with state government in 2011, making it Brighton’s maiden venture in India.
Brighton will invest Rs.2,880 crore and provide direct employment to 2,500 skilled workers, and indirect employment to another 10,000 persons.
The proposed plant will be set up on an 800 acre site at Nakkapalli in the district.
Around Rs.1.2 lakh crore of the total investments, that is, Rs 6.47 lakh crore, signed at the CII partnership summit held in January at Hyderabad are for the Vizag region.
“Vizag offers a calm, peaceful atmosphere away from any disturbances in the form of rasta rokos, frequent bandhs, etc., besides good manpower.
The trend of a sudden rise in investments in the Vizag region after 2009 can clearly be attributed to the Telangana agitation. Vizag already has two ports, one in the public and the other in the private sector.
Recent international air connectivity will attract more investments from global players,” opined an industrialist.
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