Andhra Pradesh: Land suitability under study for MSME Parks

Visakhapatnam: The district administration is in the process of identifying land to set up an MSME park in each Assembly segment of the district. Suitable plots have been identified in nine of the 15 Assembly segments. The state government in-tends to enhance employment opportunities for semi-skilled workers thr-ough the establishment of MSME parks. The APIIC has been tasked with identifying land parcels and determining their suitability. Efforts are underway to identify suitable lands in the Agency assembly segments of Araku and Paderu.

So far there has not been any industrial activity in the Agency tracts, and it remains to be seen whet-her the MSME parks will be game changers. The parks could trigger economic activity and provide employment to the tribal youth. However, since the Agency tracts are scheduled areas, only tribals are allowed to own land there. The identification of 15 acres of vacant land is proving to be difficult in the highly urbanised constituencies of Vizag North, South, East, and West. Land in the Tri-Junction has been identified for these constituencies.

District collector Pravin Kumar says, “Land parc-els have been identified in all assembly segments, and the suitability of the lands for the establishment of parks is being checked. We are awaiting guidelines from the state government. As soon as we receive the guidelines we will go ahead with the work.” A land parcel of 435 acres has been identified in Yelamanchali constituency, and one of 104 acres has been identified in Narasipatnam.

Industries minister N. Amarnath Reddy visited the district to review industrial progress in the region on Thursday. He said the state government was planning to develop MSME parks in every assembly segment, in order to widen the scope of employment for youth in the state.