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The Jewel of the East Coast

Vizag, also known as visakhapatnam, is fast transforming itself into a mega hub for petro chemical, IT and pharma industry
Situated along the East Coast of India, Vizag has a natural land locked protective harbour, endowed with rich mineral, water and forest resources. The rapid industrialization has made the city a real estate goldmine as the property price is shooting up. Being a port city, Vizag has been very attractive destination for various companies to set up industries here. It has one of the busiest major ports in country today. Vizag port is targeting to handle traffic of 70 million ton for the financial year 2010-11.

The city has witnessed tremendous growth due to its heavy industries which includes some of the biggest names such as HPCL Oil Refinery, Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant, Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd (BHPV), Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, Coramandel Fertilizers, NTPC, Rain Calcining Ltd, Essar Pelletization Plan, etc.

Andhra Pradesh is the first state to sign an MoA with the Central government for Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) to be built in the Visakhapatnam-Kakinada region. PCPIR is a specifically delineated investment region with an area of around 603 square km planned for the establishment of manufacturing and service facilities for domestic and export led production in petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals.

The PCPIR at Vizag would include Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Industrial Parks, Free Trade & Warehousing Zones, Export Oriented Units and Growth Centres. The internal infrastructure of the PCPIR will be built and managed by a developer, or a group of co-developers. The state government has invited global proposal for selection of consultancy agency to make the master plan.

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The state government has developed first-of-its-kind dedicated Industrial Water Sector Project in Vizag. As the city is developing several mega-infrastructure projects, there is major requirement for reliable source of water supply. Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Project (VIWSCO) was conceived by the government to cater to this need. Commissioned in December 2004, VIWSCO supplies 388 Mld from Yeleru reservoir through 153 km long Yeleru canal and another 388 Mld from River Godavari through a 56 Km long MS pipeline. Water to RINL (Vizag Steel Plant) JN Pharma City, NTPC, APSEZ, Brandix and Gangavaram Port and other upcoming industries will be supplied from this scheme. The supply position would double once the Polavaram Project is completed.

Vizag is also fast emerging as the country’s biggest pharma hub. It has developed 1,400 acre pharma city, Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City which already houses over 20 pharma companies -- including Dr Reddy’s, Pharmagel, Biocon, Hetero Drugs, GVK Bio, Orchid Chemicals, and Japanese pharma majors besides others. The adjacent Pharma SEZ has two global giants — Eisai Pharma of Japan and Pharmagel of Germany.

Ramky Pharma City (India) Ltd (RPCIL) a JV company of Ramky Group and APIIC has developed the pharma city. It has been developed with facilities that overcome the hassles of collating water, power, raw material and other resources.

The city has also seen IT boom as at least 25 new companies are coming up here. Vizag has good number of English speaking educated workforce which has helped many IT and BPO companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra Satyam, Wipro, Patni Computer Systems, HCL Technologies besides others to set up offices here. The state government has provided good infrastructure and land for these companies to set up offices in the city outskirts.

The Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) has the jurisdiction spread over 5573.51 sq km, which includes Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), Municipalities of Bheemunipatnam, Gajuwaka and Anakapalli in Visakhapatnam District, Amudalavalasa and Srikakulam in Srikakulam District, Vizianagaram in Vizianagaram District, and Tuni in East Godavari District, and 1218 surrounding villages. VUDA is developing many residential and commercial plots in prime areas through auction. It has invited bid for its two new projects – Cyber Valley and Kurmannapalem Town Center.

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