Andhra Pradesh Information Technology and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh.
Credit: Twitter/@naralokesh
Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday said that a road map has already been designed to take Andhra Pradesh to number one position in the country.
Addressing the elite gathering of the Infrastructure Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, Lokesh said that the TDP-led NDA Government accords highest priority for creating basic amenities.
Regretting that due to the previous government's negligence industrial development in the state came to a standstill and all the necessary steps are being taken up to bring the State back on track.
“Under the able guidance of the Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, the state is moving at a fast pace towards development,” the Minister said.
Stating that now focus is on decentralisation of development, he said that steps are being taken now to take all the districts towards the progress path by setting up different sectors in each district.
Kurnool district will be taken forward through renewable energy as the state government has set a target of generating 72 gigawatts of energy in the coming five years, he said, adding that as part of the programme focus will be on setting up hydro, wind and solar power generating projects on a largescale. While Anantapur will be developed as an automobile manufacturing hub, Chittoor and Kadapa will be taken forward as centres for electronics industries, he stated.
Biofuel in Prakasam and Krishna along with Guntur as capital region besides both the Godavari districts on aqua farming, the Minister said. Regretting that basic amenities and roads have been totally neglected in the past five years, Lokesh said the largest petrochemical corridor is coming in the Godavari districts.
Maintaining that the target is to develop Visakhapatnam as the number one IT hub in the world, the IT Minister announced that as part of the scheme an international-level data centre is going to be established here. North Andhra will be developed as a pharma hub, he said and expressed the hope that all the North Andhra districts, including Visakhapatnam are going to witness a radical progress once the Bhogapuram international airport comes into existence.
“We are making every effort for air connectivity to all the districts. It does not mean that all the basic amenities are available if merely ports and airports are available. The real development is distributing the wealth generated through respective fields for all sections of society,” Lokesh remarked.
Promising to develop Visakhapatnam as the economic capital of the state, Lokesh said that the works on Visakha-Chennai industrial corridor are being accelerated. "Ease of Doing Business is past but now under the able leadership of Naidu we are moving forward with Speed of Doing Business," he added.
Lokesh declared that a new industrial, IT and Electronics policies will soon be announced with industrial-friendly schemes and said that under the leadership of an young IAS officer the Economic Development Board is revived. Under the guidance of the Chief Minister, the EDB is going to function very actively, he said and appreciated the GMR for its hard work in creating infrastructure.
Calling upon the industrialists to become partners in achieving the goal of creating 20 lakh jobs in the state, Nara Lokesh asked them to play a key role in Vikasitha Andhra Pradesh.