Andhra Pradesh to showcase Maritime Potential at CII Partnership Summit
VIJAYWADA: As the maritime trade potential of the State’s 1,053 km coast remains largely untapped despite having port access every 280 km, the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) is going to pull out all the stops to attract investments in non-major seaports and shipbuilding, at the upcoming CII Partnership Summit.
The State government is investing over ₹5,000 crore in greenfield port infrastructure, aiming to complete them by the end of 2026. The goal has the backing of the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Policy 2024-2029, under which operational guidelines were issued late last month. Currently, A.P. ranks 2nd in cargo handling from the non-major ports (118 million metric tonnes per annum), according to official sources.
As per a presentation made by a top official of the Infrastructure and Investments Department at the India Maritime Week held in Mumbai recently, while the construction of Machilipatnam, Ramayapatnam, Mulapeta and Kakinada gateway ports is in various stages, a strong pitch is being made for the development of a shipbuilding cluster at Dugarajapatnam in Tirupati district. For this, efforts are being made to rope in global investors to partner with the GoAP. Besides, medium and small scale shipyards with repair facilities have been planned at Machilipatnam/Mulapeta, and Juvvaladinne/Uppada/Nizampatnam.
The government has identified over 40 coastal and creek sites suited for shipbuilding, with a targeted capacity to build cape-size and ‘Very Large Crude Carriers’ and ‘Very Large Gas Carriers’. The government is in negotiations with some of the world’s leading shipbuilders for developing those facilities, according to the sources.
A slew of tailor-made incentives are being offered to start with, including a subsidy of 12% on Fixed Capital Investment (FCI) for sub-large and large projects, subject to installation of the plant and machinery in five and seven years, and 15% subsidy on FCI, subject to the completion of installations in 10 years in case of mega and ultra-mega projects.
Decarbonisation subsidy on FCI ranging from 15% to 35% is also proposed to be given to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and low-carbon economy. Integration of logistics and industry, i.e. creating warehousing, cold chain, multi-modal logistics park/dry port, container freight station and plug and play industrial zone infrastructure and construction of fishing harbours that constitute an important pillar in the blue economy, has been accorded due priority.