AP offer on industrial promotion: “Lowest cost for doing businessâ€: FM
Vijayawada: Finance minister Buggana Rajendranath has said the AP Global Investors Summit 2023 is an ideal platform for companies to learn about the state and its advantages.
The event would be held on March 3 and 4 in Visakhapatnam.
Addressing the ‘Bengaluru Industry Meet’ under the Domestic Roadshow for GIS-2023 programme here, the minister said AP’s efforts were recognised by the top policy think tank NITI Aayog. “It has rated AP number 4 in its SDG India Index rankings for 2020-21 across social, economic and environmental spectrum. AP is developing three national industrial corridors, namely VCIC, CBIC, HBIC,” he noted.
Rajendranth said AP was consistently being ranked the number one state in the Ease Of Doing Business. “This speaks highly of our credibility and reliability. AP’s aim is to provide a truly conducive ambience for businesses to thrive and we are moving further up from “ease of doing business” slogan to “AP as lowest cost place for doing business,” he said.
The FM said, “We have an abundance of land bank (48,352 acres) for industrial development and 888 km of national waterway. We intend to develop inland waterways, which will reduce the cost for moving cargo within and outside the state. Some 27 locations have been identified for the setting up of the main waterways terminals. This will have the potential to handle 10MT of goods by 2029.”
He added, “The state is also spending a significant part of its budget for increasing air connectivity, with a greenfield international airport coming up at Bhogapuram near Visakhapatnam at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore. AP is developing a bulk-drug park. We are the only state in the South that was sanctioned such a park with a financial assistance of Rs 1,000crore.”
The minister said AP has 9GW of installed renewable power capacity. With rich renewable energy hubs, the state has the potential for generating 38GW in solar and 44GW in wind power. AP is one of the few water-abundant states. We would also ensure that trained workforce is available for the industries to absorb. We have 26 skill colleges across parliamentary constituencies.”
