ADB to fund $840-m corridor between Vizag, Chennai.

The Asian Development Bank will extend a $625 million loan to the proposed $840 million Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, according to Teresa Kho, Country Director – India, ADB.

She said the industrial corridor, meant to boost manufacturing activity and help economic growth of the hinterland, will have four nodes: Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Gannavaram-Kankipadu, and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti.

The building blocks of the corridor would be node-centred development and trade and transport.

The VCIC, she said, was anchored on nearly 800 km of National Highway 16, which was highly congested. Arterial roads would have to be developed. The VCIC would be part of the proposed East Coast Economic Corridor, from Kolkata in West Bengal to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, Kho said, addressing a plenary session, ‘Sunrise Andhra Pradesh: turning aspirations into reality’, at the CII Partnership Summit now underway.

M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister, said the Housing and Urban Development Corporation would help build Andhra Pradesh’s capital at Amaravati with an assistance of ₹7,500 crore. Naidu said a metro rail was under consideration for Visakhapatnam, while tenders would be invited for one in Vijayawada.

He and Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha emphasised that the Centre would provide assistance to Andhra Pradesh. They pointed out that like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the State had an able and decisive leader in Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Thanks to this, Andhra Pradesh would be at the forefront of India’s economic growth, he said.

HBL