AP CM YS Jagan At Maritime India Summit 2021: Invest in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy attended the Maritime India Summit 2021, which was inaugarated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, virtually from his camp office here on Tuesday.

Speech Highlights

Today, 95% of India's trading by volume and 70% by value is through maritime transport. Indian ports handled approximately 1.2 billion metric tonnes of cargo traffic in the year 2019 – 2020 and much required policy reforms like 100% FDI, Make-in-India, Sagar Mala and Bharat Mala have been introduced to ensure exponential growth in this sector. I am sure that Maritime India Vision 2030 document would certainly stand as a testament to the Govt’s commitment in this regard.  

Sir, I believe that the importance of “Blue Economy” in a nation’s growth story extends much beyond the maritime trade and the Export - Import statistics. The true value of “Blue Economy” is unlocked only when all the allied sectors which are directly and indirectly dependent on the ocean such as aquaculture, maritime & coastal tourism, chemical & bio-technological exploration, ship building and other port led industries also mature enough to provide sustainable employment and growth opportunities. The draft of the first ever National Fishing Policy released by Govt of India in September 2020 is an example of several such solid steps taken in that direction.

Hon’ble Prime Minster!, drawing inspiration from your focussed agenda to take India’s maritime economy to the next level, Andhra Pradesh State Government has taken up a lot of transformative steps to leverage its coastal line of 974 Kms, which is the second longest in India and the longest on the eastern coast of the Country.

Today, I am proud to say that Andhra Pradesh is ranked No.1 in the country in Ease of Doing Business rankings 2020 released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and one of the factors that contributed to this achievement is the State Government’s consistent efforts in developing port infrastructure, support ecosystem and encouraging port-led industrialization.

Andhra Pradesh has one Major port in Visakhapatnam, 5 functional State ports and 10 other notified State ports with World Class facilities that handle more than 170 million tonnes of cargo per annum, second only to Gujarat. Andhra Pradesh shares 4% of total Indian exports and we aim to reach 10% share by 2030.

In recent times, several industrial nodes have come up in the State, with ports as the focal point for development. To further unlock this potential offered by the long coastline of AP, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has undertaken development of 3 Green-field ports at Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam and Bhavanapadu on an innovative model that mitigates all risks associated with green field port development, thereby making the port operation a risk free proposition for the private sector. After the development of the port by the Government, the operator of the port would be selected on competitive bidding basis ensuring maximum revenue realization for the Government.    These all-weather, deep-drafted ports are all set to be operational by 2023, creating an additional capacity of at least 100 million tons of cargo per annum in the short term, with a potential to grow leaps and bounds in the long term

In order to ensure that the ports operate at their fullest capacities, the State Govt has consciously taken steps to attract large investments in the sectors ranging from manufacturing, petrochemicals, food processing, pharmaceuticals etc. which are port-dependent. The State Government with the support of Government of India while promoting skilling by establishing an aqua university, has also undertaken the development of 8 Fishing Harbours, establishment of testing labs and cold chain facilities to provide better ecosystem for aquaculture thereby increasing the share of aqua-related cargo from the ports.

All such well-calibrated interventions are designed to promote port-based industries and develop new economic cities driven by the ports all along the coastal line of Andhra Pradesh.

Lastly, I would like to extend my invitation to the representatives from various companies from India and abroad attending this summit through Government of India to invest in Andhra Pradesh and I assure you the best environment for your operations and the fullest support in making your endeavor a successful one.