Central government stated that the Andhra Pradesh state government did not reach out to them for setting up Greenfield shipyard in Visakhapatnam eliminating the prospect of one coming up.

It may be noted that the AP government as part of its vision for maritime development has been working with United Shipbuilding Corporation(USC) of Russia for a strategic partnership.

In response to a question asked by Rajya Sabha member V Vijaysai Reddy’s, Ministry of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre replied that the USC had not come forward to set up a Greenfield shipyard in Visakhapatnam.

Reddy further asked, if the Ministry requested the AP government to allot land for this project. The GOI replied in writing that the question of allotting land does not arise as the corporation did not approach the Union government in first place.

USC has been eying for shipbuilding activity in AP. Moreover, the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) representatives had discussions in Russia in 2016 regarding the Greenfield shipyard.

Consequently, APEDB and USC inked a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) on 12 October2016, to get going with the construction of the ship yard.