VISAKHAPATNAM: Chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is likely to inaugurate the IT Incubation Centre at the Rushikonda IT SEZ during his visit to the city on September 29. He is likely to launch a start-up village for IT companies on the lines of the one set up in Kochi of Kerala, apart from participating in a key conference on IT sector with experts in IT field from various parts of India and abroad.
Addressing a review meeting here Wednesday, HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said that the state government would develop a convention centre at Madhurawada in the city on the lines of Hitex City in Hyderabad. He said the TDP government had a vision to develop all cities in the state.
Observing that several companies had under-utilised the land allotments made in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the minister said that the state government was seriously considering the option of resuming lands given to various companies in SEZs including IT and Pharma sectors as they had failed to create necessary employment as promised within the stipulated time. All land allotments for industrial purposes in SEZs would be reviewed for their productive and constructive usage, he added.
Srinivasa Rao said that Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) had allotted valuable lands to various companies in SEZs during the tenure of the previous government but a majority of the entrepreneurs had not utilised them for the purposes they were allotted, he added. “Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC) was set up in around 1,000 acres at Achyutapuram SEZ and the management had promised to provide employment to 60,000 people, but only 3,282 people got jobs till date,” he observed.
Similarly, Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City was unable to fulfil its obligation to provide employment to 20,000 people as it had created only 10,130 jobs and IT SEZs in Vizag city had created only 5,762 jobs as against their commitment to generate employment to 18,300 people. The APIIC team would visit Visakhapatnam on Sept 21 to take up a comprehensive review of land allotments to various SEZs.