Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy performed Bhoomi Puja to Ramayapatnam Port, marking the start of construction works at an initial cost of Rs 3736.14 crore here on Wednesday.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said that there are only six ports in the State since independence and added that the current government is bringing four more ports including Ramayapatnam to boost economic activity, employment opportunities and overall development.
He assured that each port would provide indirect employment to lakhs of people as the government is also setting up nine fishing harbours in addition to Bhavanapadu, Kakinada Gateway Port, Machilipatnam, and Ramayapatnam ports.
He said that Ramayapatnam Port is being taken up with Rs 3,740 Cr for 4 berths with a handling capacity of 25 Million Tonnes, where six more additional berths can be added in the future with Rs 200 crore for each for handling over 50 Million Tonnes. He stated that with the construction of four ports 100 Million Tonnes of cargo handling can be added to the existing capacity of 228 Million Tonnes.
Taking a dig at the previous TDP government, the Chief Minister recalled the foundation ceremony of Ramayapatnam Port, which was performed by former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in February 2019, just two months before the general elections. He stated that Chandrababu did nothing in his five-year rule other than betraying people by laying a foundation without any DPR or land acquisition. Unlike the previous government, he said that the current government procured 850 acres of land for constructing the port with Rs 3740 crore.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister thanked the people of villages Mondivaripalem, Avulavaripalem, Karlapalem, Ravuru, Chevuru, and Salipeta for giving their lands to the port and later distributed R&R pattas to the displaced families. He sanctioned development works in the Kandukur constituency, which includes Rs 25 crore for a bypass road for Kandukur at a stretch of 6.2 km, and Rs 27 crore for the construction of a left bank canal for the Rallapadu Project.
