GMR wins bid to develop green port at Kakinada

GMR Infrastructure Ltd made a successful bid to develop a greenfield commercial port at Kakinada in coastal Andhra Pradesh through Swiss Challenge mode.

The Greenfield Port would be located 30 km north of Kakinada and is proposed to be developed as an all-weather, deep draft, multi-cargo port.

The port is located at one of the strategic nodes of the Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor and is expected to benefit from the associated corridor developments.

Given the strategic location, the port is expected to become the Gateway to the East Coast of India. Once operational, the port will have an initial capacity of 16 MnT. Revenue share payable to the Andhra Pradesh government under the bid is 2.7% of the gross revenue for the period of 30 years, a press release stated.

The state government also cleared the proposal to provide external infrastructure like roads connecting the nearest highway to the port boundary, water supply up to port boundary and power supply from nearest substation up to the port boundary, as per AP Ports Policy.

Speaking on the occasion B V N Rao, business chairman - transportation and urban infrastructure of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, said, "This will be a huge leap forward in upturning the economic development graph of the region while spiraling up our port’s potential to attract even more prestigious clients, taking the project valuations up by many folds.”

Kakinada Special Investment Region (KSIR) is being developed as a world-class port based on multi-product special investment region.

The port would be spread over 1,950 acres, while the Industrial Park would be spread over 8,500 acres.

This Special Investment Region would house various industries, including Petrochemicals, Food and Agro Processing, Discrete Manufacturing, Electronics, Renewable Energy etc., offering a combination of export-oriented SEZs and Domestic market-oriented double tax agreements (DTAs).