Vijayawada: Governor S. Abdul Nazeer said in his first address of the joint session of the AP Assembly on Tuesday that the state has taken a step forward in economic development and is making remarkable progress in the agricultural, industrial, and service sectors.
The governor said, “The AP government has been providing good governance for the last four years by delivering government schemes to the doorstep of all eligible beneficiaries. We are making remarkable progress and have achieved a growth rate of 11.43 per cent, and the state is leading in economic development.”
Significantly, there was no mention of the ‘Three Capitals’ or decentralised development in the governor’s address of the assembly this time, unlike in the last three years when these had been prominently mentioned.
Telugu Desam legislators tried to disrupt the speech of Governor Nazeer several times and walked out when he mentioned AP's “progress, growth and development.”
On the state’s growth, Governor Nazeer said, “The advanced estimates for 2022-23 indicate an overall growth of 16.22% at current prices. The per capita income of Andhra Pradesh at current prices has moved up from Rs 1,92,517 in 2021-22 to Rs 2,19,518 with an impressive growth rate of 14.02%. The effective policy formulation and implementation ensured a year-on-year GSDP growth rate of 11.43% in 2021-22, which is the highest amongst all the states.”
The Governor said the ‘Village/Ward Secretariat and Volunteer system’ is both innovative and unique, with 15,004 Village/Ward Sachivalayas across the state being instrumental in ensuring an effective and transparent service delivery.
“During these 45 months, the government has extended financial assistance of about Rs 1.97 lakh crore under various programmes with an aim of improving the living standards of the people regardless of their caste, creed, religion, gender and political affiliation, under the ambit of Navarathnalu.”
“The government is implementing the Mana Badi- Naadu Nedu initiative from 2020-21. 15,717 schools have been taken up for revamp under phase-1 with a financial outlay of Rs 3,669 crore. Under the 2nd phase, now in progress, 22,344 schools are being covered with an outlay of Rs 8,000 crore. In a span of three years, the government is planning to strengthen infrastructure in 57,189 schools and 3,280 other educational institutions under this initiative, with an estimated total outlay of Rs 16,021.67 crore.”
Explaining about industry, innovation, and infrastructure, Governor Nazeer said, “It’s a moment of pride that my government successfully organised the Global Investors’ Summit at Visakhapatnam on 3rd-4th March 2023. In all, 378 MoUs were signed during the summit with a total commitment of Rs 13.42 lakh crore and generation of over 6 lakh jobs across 16 key sectors.”
“A significant investment commitment of Rs 9,57,112 crore with a potential employment generation to 1.80 lakh persons was in the renewable energy sector.”
The Governor said the government is planning to develop Andhra Pradesh as a logistics hub and gateway to Southeast Asia with six operational ports. “We are also developing four more ports at Ramayapatnam, Bhavanapadu, Kakinada and Machilipatnam and constructing nine fishing harbours across the state in two phases.
Regarding rural and urban connectivity, Nazeer said, “My government is committed to ensuring connectivity to all unconnected habitations through AP Rural Road Project at an estimated cost of Rs 4,994 crore. My government is planning to complete 174 roads and 21 bridges of a total length of 1,236km this year.”
“The Roads & Buildings department has taken up 5,181km length of road works, which comprises new connectivity, improvement, repairs pertaining to all categories of roads with an expenditure of Rs 2,173 crore.”
