Government's Vision for Visakhapatnam
Minister of State for Education and IT Nara Lokesh declared that Visakhapatnam would be Andhra Pradesh's financial capital and aims to make it a trillion-dollar economy by 2047. He reiterated the government's policy of "one state, one capital" and balanced regional development.
Lokesh laid the foundation stone of Sify's maiden AI Edge Data Center and Open Cable Landing Station in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. He later spoke at a meeting in a hotel at Rushikonda, enumerating the state's IT development plans.
Visakhapatnam's future compared to Hyderabad's growth
Lokesh pointed out that when several IT firms entered Hyderabad during the 1990s, then-Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu conceptualized Cyber Towers, which marked the beginning of the city's IT era. He said that whereas it took more than 30 years for Hyderabad's IT development, that of Visakhapatnam will be accomplished within less than ten years.
He stated that it takes years of work to attract investments to the state. Lokesh said that he had first met Sify Chairman Vegesna Ananda Kotiraju during his visit to California in 2017 and took eight years to convince him to come to Andhra Pradesh. He also thanked APIIC Chairman Mantena Ramaraju, NRI TDP leader Sagar Doddapaneni, and State IT Secretary Katamaneni Bhaskar for their important support to the project.
As Lokesh says, Andhra Pradesh is competing not just with other states but also with other countries to get investments.
Creating a Strong Economic and Job Culture
- During the last 17 months, Andhra Pradesh received $120 billion in investments, more than half in the Visakhapatnam area. The city is going to have India's biggest steel plant and will get significant foreign direct investments. This is going to generate jobs and boost the local economy.
- The government's "Super Six" promises include an aim to generate 20 lakh employment opportunities in five years, of which 5 lakh software posts come under the leadership of Lokesh during his stint as IT Minister.
- Lokesh spoke about previous accusations of leasing land to TCS for 99 paise, saying he did not wish to get into politics. He told that businesses such as Google, Accenture, and Cognizant are interested in investing because of positive IT policy choices.
- He has characterized this as an important moment for Visakhapatnam, with a double-engine government leading speedy development. The Prime Minister is all supportive of Andhra Pradesh's economic agenda and ensures national reform priority. Policy decisions are implemented speedily than ever, according to Lokesh.
Protecting Investments and Future Plans
- Lokesh assured that the coalition government is dead set against allowing the Visakhapatnam steel plant to shut down. The Central Government has committed ₹11,000 crore and the State Government contributed ₹3,000 crore. The intention is to operate the plant at full scale and make it profitable so it won't need to rely on government money in the future.
- He added that fresh investment announcements will be announced within the next three months. There are steps to stop the investments from flowing over to the neighboring states because of political or administrative reasons.
- Lokesh spoke about his own fondness for Visakhapatnam and pointed out that although there was the 2019 election defeat, the people of the city never lost their strong backing.
Industry Leader Support
- Sify Chairman Vegesna Ananda Kotiraju remembered that India's first data center was opened in Mumbai 25 years ago. He guaranteed that the Visakhapatnam data center project would be over speedily with the help of the state government and Minister Lokesh.
- The meeting was graced by BJP State President PVN Madhav, MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju, Sify Executive Vice Presidents Harsha Ram and Rajesh Tirumalaraju, IT Secretary Katamaneni Bhaskar, and APIIC Chairman Mantena Ramaraju.
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