Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh chief minister-designate N. Chandrababu Naidu has big plans to develop Visakhapatnam as a major information technology and film industry hub, which will attract even Bengali and Odiya filmmakers apart from Tollywood filmmakers. Vizag has the advantage of picturesque locales like Araku and, of course, the sea and the beaches.
In the initial phase, as part of his development plans for residual AP, Mr Naidu will be focusing on Vizag, which has already got potential for development as it has an international airport, seaport and city life as well.
According to sources close to Mr Naidu, while he wants Vizag to be the film and IT hub, he is keen on developing the Vijayawada-Guntur-Machilipatnam-Eluru-Tenali area as the capital zone with more administrative buildings like the Secretariat, High Court and Assembly coming up in these cities and towns. The focus city, however, would be on Vijayawada in the capital zone. Rayalaseema will be made an industrial hub where more manufacture and service sectors will be developed.
In Delhi, Mr Naidu said, “I am for decentralised development. Many cities will be developed. In each district I will be develop a city. The capital city should be centrally located.”
Mr Naidu’s camp said that he was ready with the blueprints and would start from the day he was sworn in as the CM of AP.
A top official from Mr Naidu’s camp said, “Among the cities in Seemandhra, Vizag tops with good city life. Foreign companies will need city life when they set up shop so Vizag has been identified as the most suitable. It is the only city with an international airport. So there are plans to expand it. For filmmakers, the Araku valley and Vizag beach are rich locations so it would be developed as the film centre of the state.
“Visakhapatnam is one among the six cities which would have hi-tech cities. Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Tirupati are the other cities that will get hi-tech cities similar to the one in Hyderabad. The IT industry will be Vizag centric as it has all the prerequisites that investors look for,” he said, adding, “Vizag also has the East Point Golf Club of Mudasarlova.”
The source said Mr Naidu was banking on surplus power for the new state when the new projects started and he would be promising industrialists uninterrupted power supply.
