GMR Infrastructure is entering the seaport business and will be developing a greenfield commercial port through the Swiss Challenge mode. The greenfield port would be located at about 30 km from Kakinada and is proposed to be developed as an all-weather, deep-draft, multi-cargo port. The company’s Kakinada SEZ, with 10,000 acres, had a captive port earlier. It will now be developed as a commercial port in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Senior officials in the AP government, requesting anonymity, said that the proposed investment by GMR Infra is about Rs 2,135 crore.
The port is located at one of the strategic nodes of the Visakhapatnam–Chennai Industrial Corridor and is expected to benefit from the associated corridor developments. Given the strategic location, the port is expected to become the gateway to the east coast of India. Once operational, the port will have initial capacity of 16 million tonne. The revenue share payable to Andhra Pradesh under the bid is 2.7% of gross revenue for a period of 30 years.
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to provide support with Rs 200 crore and also approved provision of external infrastructure, which includes road infrastructure connecting to the nearest highway to the port boundary, water supply up to the port boundary and power supply from nearest substation up to the port boundary, as per the AP Ports Policy.
“This is an important milestone that will charter new frontiers of recognition and growth for the entire GMR group, in India and internationally. This will augur a huge leap forward in upturning the economic development graph of the region while spiraling up our port’s potential to attract even more prestigious clients, taking the project valuations up by many folds,” BVN Rao, business chairman, transportation & urban infrastructure of GMR Infra, said in a statement.
The Kakinada Special Investment Region (KSIR) is being developed as a worldclass port-based multi-product special investment region. The port would be spread over 1,950 acres. While the industrial park spreads over 8,500 acres, the Special Investment Region would house various industries including petrochemicals, food and agro processing, discrete manufacturing, electronics and renewable energy, among others, offering a combination of export-oriented SEZs and domestic market-oriented DTAs.
Source: financialexpress.com