Naidu Asks China to Make Vishakapatnam Part of Silk Road.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s concept of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) has found an echo in Vijayawada recently when Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu urged visiting Chinese Vice-Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Chen Fengxiang to ensure that it will touch Visakhapatnam.

He stressed the point that for the MSR, AP state is more suitable. The Maritime Silk Road, officially the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route Economic Belt, is a Chinese strategic initiative to increase investments and is considered an extension of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The MSR initiative was first proposed by the Chinese President while addressing the Indonesian Parliament in October, 2013.

Chandrababu Naidu explained to the Chinese Communist Party leader how AP’s coastline is being developed into a gateway to East and how Visakhapatnam would be suitable to be part of the MSR initiative.

Referring to the development of a greenfield capital for the state, Naidu wanted China to treat Amaravati as its second home after Shanghai for making investments. The chief minister apprised the Chinese delegation that Amaravati was poised to emerge as one of the top five cities in the world.

Chen Fengxiang said he had decided to visit Andhra Pradesh first during his India visit and their priority is Andhra Pradesh only. Describing Amaravati as a mega project, he said the state has a rare opportunity for building a capital city like painting a beautiful portrait on a blank canvas. He wished for a stronger ties of mutual cooperation between China and India. Naidu said one can have investment opportunities aplenty, but it is a very rare opportunity to be part of constructing a new capital city of worldclass standards, which is now there in the form of Amaravati. The new capital will be a blue-green city with an enviable 40-km long waterfront. Inland water transportation will be an added advantage, he explained.

He expressed his desire for the Chinese companies to part of Amaravati construction and said there is no equal to Chinese when it comes to executing grand projects in an expedited manner.

CRDA secretary Ajay Jain and industries secretary SS Rawat gave a powerpoint presentation on resources in AP and the advantages the state has to offer for prospective investors. They explained that AP, which is the top state in agriculture is now striding towards becoming an industrial powerhouse. Meanwhile, officials of CRDA, Krishna district and Vijayawada Municipal Corporation officials held a meeting with Plan and Design delegation led by Guizhou Maritime Silk Road International Investment Corporation (GIIC) vice president and chief engineer Guan Xiaoqing and GIIC’s business delegation.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS