Projects worth Rs.8,400 cr in AP under Sagarmala: Gadkari

The Dollar Business Bureau 

Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping said on Thursday that Rs.8,400 crore worth of projects in Andhra Pradesh  have been sanctioned under 'Sagarmala' - the ambitious initiative of the current Government. 

While speaking to journalists in Visakhapatnam after inaugurating various projects undertaken by Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Gadkari said, “The aim of Sagarmala initiative is ‘port-led development’ in India.”

Under this ambitious initiative of our government, projects amounting to Rs.8,400 crore are sanctioned in Andhra Pradesh that include Rs.3,000 crore worth of LNG terminal at Kakinada, development of Coastal Food Export berth costing Rs.150 crore, extra oil jetty at Visakhapatnam Port costing Rs.100 crore and the development of new port at Machilipatnam and Vadarevu, the Minister said. 

Earlier, Gadkari inaugurated a Container Freight Station established by the Visakha Container Terminal Pvt Ltd with a cost of Rs.104 crore, located near Muralinagar in Visakhapatnam and a solar power plant of 10 MW set up by VPT at a cost of Rs.57.5 crore.

The Sagarmala initiative, mooted by the Centre, is a series of projects intended to boost industrial development by leveraging India’s coastline and inland waterways. Combined with the development of inland waterways, Sagarmala is likely to cut cost and time in the transportation of goods, which would benefit the industries, export and import trade. This is a huge project having 150 initiatives with an overall outlay of Rs.4 lakh crore.