Govt of AP signs pact with UAE firm for industrial corridor project

Hyderabad: An integrated industrial corridor with an industrial complex, port facility, power plant and associated infrastructural facilities will be developed on the 26-kilometre stretch between Nizampatnam in Guntur district and Vodarevu in Prakasam district with Rs 16,800 crore investment.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Investment Authority of the United Arab Emirates and Matrix Enport Private Ltd here on Tuesday.

“The project, to come up in about 10,000 acres, will be one of the first few port-based industrial corridors in the country. To be competed in six years in a phased-manner, it will generate employment to 25,000 to 50,000,” Mr M. Venkata Ramana Rao, Minister for Infrastructure and Ports, Government of Andhra Pradesh told newspersons.

The Nizampatnam port project has had a controversial past with the State Government and the Czech major Skoda Export falling out of an agreement to develop the facilities.

Besides significant upgradation of Nizampatnam port, the project would also include a 2,100 MW power project with an assured cargo traffic of eight million tonnes/year of imported coal.

“Amongst other business offshore rig repairs and ship-breaking hold great potential for the product due to close proximity to the Krishna-Godavari basin,” the Minister said.

Both RAK and Matrix Enport would have 51:49 per cent stake in the project receptively, he added.

Dr Khater Massaad, Chief Executive Officer, RAK Investment Authority said Andhra Pradesh had been well-known to RAK for the last four years. “Our ceramic factory near Kakinada is doing very well and we are also putting up an aluminium plant soon. We look forward to implement the industrial corridor project,” he said.