Close on the heels of the completion of Hyderabad International Airport, which is launching commercial services next month, the site for the location of a second international airport at the port city of Visakhapatnam has been selected.
Governor ND Tiwari while addressing the joint session of the legislative Assembly, which commenced the 40-day annual budget sessions on Monday , said the Airports Authority of India had conducted a site location feasibility study for the international airport at Visakhapatnam and the site had been finalised near Rayavaram.
It may be recalled that the state government had announced its intention of going for an international airport at Visakhapatnam in place of the present civilian airport, which is controlled by the Eastern Naval Command, owing to a large industrial corridor being developed between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.
Two large multi-product special economic zones, a Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region, and two oil refineries among other projects have been proposed in this region that could potentially attract a huge international air traffic to the city of Visakhapatnam.
With many initiatives taken for substantial expansion of infrastructure and power, the state has already started attracting sizeable industrial investments during the last three years, the governor said.
Industrial investments in the state rose to Rs 12,350 crore (Rs 123.5 billion) in the last three-and-a-half years generating an additional employment to 172,000 people, as compared with an investment of Rs 4,524 crore (Rs 45.24 billion) between 2001 and 2004, he said.