VISAKHAPATNAM: Stating that the Veligonda project, initiated 30 years ago, would be inaugurated on August 31, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced that Godavari waters will be brought to Anakapalli in the first week of September and every tank in the district will be filled with water from the Polavaram project
He was addressing the ‘Swarnandhra-Swachhandhra’ programme at Alamanda-Koduru in Anakapalli district.
The Chief Minister announced that water would flow to the region through the Polavaram Left Canal. He informed that works on the NTR Reservoir would be taken up at a cost of Rs 29 crore and the Raiwada project would be completed to provide irrigation and drinking water.
Turning to development plans, Naidu maintained that North Andhra would be developed as an industrial corridor and Anakapalli as the leading district in the state.
“Anakapalli is no longer known only for jaggery. It is evolving into a hub for ArcelorMittal Steel City, data centres, pharma and aluminium units,” he observed, adding that the district would become a centre for companies and a landmark for the knowledge economy.
He pointed out that Anakapalli had emerged as a stronghold for the NDA and had begun attracting investments on a large scale.
He referred to the ongoing construction of ArcelorMittal Steel City and the recent inauguration of the Alluri Sitarama Raju Airport as a major boost for North Andhra.
The government, he noted, plans to develop a 10,000-acre industrial township and set up a skill development centre for local youth.
Naidu also sought to allay concerns over the water requirements of upcoming data centres, stating that all the proposed data centres together would require about 3.5 TMC of water, which would be sourced from the Polavaram project waters.
He argued that it was baseless to claim that water resources would be depleted before projects had even started. “One data centre has paved the way for projects equivalent to five data centres with 5 gigawatts capacity, which would create a large pool of AI professionals,” he explained.
On cleanliness, Naidu called upon people to make every village a zero-waste village and adopt the spirit of “Our Village - Our Responsibility”. He urged citizens to dedicate time on the third Saturday of every month for cleanliness and social service.
The CM appreciated the restoration of Dharma Koneru tank and honoured Green Ambassadors of Alamanda Koduru for their role in keeping the village clean.
He informed that 143 lakh metric tonnes of waste had been disposed of in the last two years and that waste was being collected from villages through Swachh Raths.
