Jagan to launch work on Bhogapuram international greenfield airport today
Vijayawada: A long-cherished dream of north Andhra people, namely the Bhogapuram international greenfield, is going to become a reality with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy setting the foundation for the works on Wednesday.
The airport would be built with an expenditure of around ₹4,592 crore.
The Chief Minister has been pushing the cause of the airport for quite some time, taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and various Union ministers. All the hurdles have been cleared, including the land acquisition and court issues, and the aim is to get the airport ready in three years.
Stated the Chief Minister, “Visakhapatnam is not only the largest city in the state but also the most-acceptable city. Our government is moving ahead with a firm commitment to change the facade of northern Andhra. Not just in northern Andhra. Development can be seen in every region / in every village like never before.”
After getting NoCs, permissions and resolving legal disputes in NGT, the AP High Court and the Supreme Court, the MoU between the AP Airports Development Corporation (APADCL) and the GMR Group was registered to build the Bhogapuram Airport in PPP mode.
The airport would become a growth engine for the development of the state and play a key role in the rise of northern Andhra tourism.
The CM would also set the foundation stones for Vizag Tech Park Ltd (Adani Group) in Visakhapatnam, that would be set up with an expenditure of ₹21,844 crore, as also the works of the Tarakarama Thirtha Sagaram Irrigation Project costing ₹194.40 crores and the Chintapalli Fish Landing Centre in Vizianagaram district costing ₹23.73 crore.
Officials said the Bhogapuram international airport project is spread over 2,203 acres and works are expected to be completed within 36 months. The airport would cater to the requirements of 60 lakh passengers per annum.
Focusing on the passenger traffic growth, facilities are to be enhanced in a phased manner to handle more than 1.8 crore passengers per annum.
Apart from the Vizag Tech Park Ltd (Adani Group) with a ₹21,844 crore expenditure, there is a 200 megawatts Integrated Data Centre. The Technology/ Business Park is being set up in Madhurawada at the cost of ₹14,634 crore. Establishment of another 100 megawatts Integrated Data Centre and Technology/ Business Park in Kapuluppada, with an expenditure of ₹7,210 crore, will provide direct employment to 39,815 persons and indirect employment to 10,610 people.
The Tarakarama Thirtha Sagaram Project works are being taken up at a cost of ₹194.40 crore to provide drinking water to 49 villages in Pusapatirega, Bhogapuram and Denkada mandals of Vizianagaram district, as also irrigation water to 24,710 acres and supply water to Bhogapuram airport. The project works would be completed by December, 2024.
The Chintapalli fish landing centre on the shores of Chintapalli in Pusapatirega mandal, is built at a cost of ₹23.73 crores, benefiting thousands of fishermen directly and indirectly in Vizianagaram district.
The Adani Data Centre will give a remarkable increase in data speed with the Data Hub setting up a submarine cable system from Singapore to Visakhapatnam, increasing bandwidth 5-fold. This would lead to the setting up of many more IT companies in Visakhapatnam, further helping the growth in the IT and IT-related services.
The establishment of a hyper-scale data centre in Visakhapatnam would help in the creation of hi- tech jobs on a large scale. It will enable innovative tech companies to choose Visakhapatnam and there would be a tremendous increase in the economic activities in the IT sector, an official statement said.
