Visakhapatnam, August 19: From a small fishing village to one of the busiest ports in the country, the Visakhapatnam has come a long way.
The saga began when the British needed a suitable port to move the rich mineral wealth from the countryside. Unlike the western coast of India, the east coast has natural harbours.
According to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Zonal Council Chairman and Visakha Container Terminal Private Limited (VCTPL) Chief Operating Officer Capt Sriram Ravi Chander, ”The Vizag is the most protected natural harbour in Asia.” The construction of the harbour started in 1927 and was opened for traffic in 1933. An important milestone in its growth was the setting up of Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in 1940.
During 1950s and 60s, the government and the private sector set up large scale industries like Bharat Heavy Plates and Vessels Limited, Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Caltex Oil Refinery (later acquired by Central government as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Coromandel Fertilisers Limited, and Andhra Polymers (now LG Polymers).
The 80s saw development of other major industries like Rain Calcining Ltd, expansion of HPCL, setting up of Vizag Export Processing Zone (EPZ), and the Simhadri Thermal Power plant of National Thermal Power Corporation. Economic liberalisation in the 90s aided the growth of industries in the Steel city.
The Eastern Naval Command (ENC) has its Headquarters in the city.
The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) handles a major share of containerised cargo movement in the country through east coast with the licensing out of the container terminal at the port to a private consortium.
In September 2002, VPT was awarded a BOT contract on 30-year lease to Visakha Container Terminal Private Limited, a joint venture between Dubai Ports International and United Liner Agencies, to operate the full-fledged container terminal.
A private Port has been developed at Gangavaram with an investment of over two billion dollars. The Gangavaram Port Private Limited and has advance machinery for handling coal and other bulk products.
Mr Chandar said in the education sector, the city has made great strides. It is home to the prestigious Andhra University (AU), apart from many engineering colleges and medical and management schools. A Maritime and a Law University are also coming up with students coming from as far as Nepal to study here.
The availability of an educated workforce has attracted BPO companies, marking entry of IT/ITES industries in the city.
Various national and international IT and banking giants have set up or will be setting up offices in the city, including Mahindra Satyam, Tata Consultancy Services, HSBC, Wipro, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Oracle Corporation, ABN AMRO, Patni Computer Systems, Hexaware Technologies, iSOFT, Sankhya Technologies, Infosys, iFlex, HCL Technologies, EDS, Datasoft Comnet Pvt Ltd, Sutherland Global Services, Kenexa, E Centric Solutions Pvt Ltd, OpenWindow Technologies Inc and Kanbay.
Visakhapatnam IT Special Economic Zone offers state-of-the-art infrastructural facilities for operational ease. The Zone offers world class infrastructure and support services.
The IT turnover in 2008-09 was Rs 502 crore against the Rs 70 crore in 2004-05. Two IT SEZs are expected to come up with a turnover of Rs 1500 crore in the next three years.
New IT towers along with incubation centres for plug in and plug out operators are expected as part of new IT infrastructure in the city to attract new IT companies in the Steel city.
Vizag is well connected with daily flights from Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Tirupati and Kolkata.
Visakhapatnam Airport has recently received permission to operate night flights and now the airport is working up to 2200 hrs with a new three km-long runway accommodating international flights and larger aircraft.
The airport is the busiest in the country after the metros and Ahmedabad.
The efficient and high speed mode of transport (Bus Rapid Transit System) will make use of dedicated lanes for buses to significantly reduce traffic congestion and improve safety.
The project is under construction and will be completed by the end of this year.
The city has seen a rapid growth in Retail and Entertainment sectors during the last decade with INOX, a famous Indian multiplex chain setting up 10 screens here.
Andhra Pradesh is the first state to sign an MoU for Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) with an investment of Rs 3,43,000 crore.
HPCL is building huge reserves and caverns as India aims to build its first strategic oil reserve facility at Visakhapatnam District by October 2011.
–UNI