Naidu unveils pylon of Ramayapatnam port

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu unveiled the pylon of Ramayapatnam port at Ravur village in Prakasam district on Wednesday.

In the presence of the chief minister, Asia Pulp and Paper, one of the largest manufacturers of pulp and paper products signed MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board to set up world's biggest paper unit in Ravur village with Rs 24,000 crore investment.

Chandrababu said that Prakasam district as well Andhra Pradesh will witness a rapid growth as stone was laid for both the world's largest paper industry and Ramayapatnam port at the same time.

He said that Ramayapatnam has a greater number of advantages including the proximity to sea cost, railway line and national highway.

He expressed confidence that the paper industry and port would transform the economic scenario of Prakasam district and at the same time sought the cooperation of farmers.

He said that top priority would be given to farmers’ empowerment. He appealed them not to get carried away by false campaign of other political parties.

Chandrababu asked the management of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) to complete the project within 20 months.

Later, the chief minister discussed with the management to set a deadline for the commencement of the project immediately.

APP executive director Suresh Kilam said that pulp farmers play a key role in the production of the unit as it is going to be biggest pulp and paper unit in the world.

State's economic development board CEO J Krishna Kishore explained the prospects of the paper unit and the port.

APP of the Sinar Mas group, one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates will set up a unit in 2,500 acres of land providing employment opportunities to 4,000 people and indirect employment to 10,000.

Over 50,000 farmers will benefit by supplying eucalyptus pulp material to the proposed plant.

The plant will be set up in two phases with installed capacity of approximately 5 million MT of pulp, paper and board.

The proposed port is expected to handle granite blocks container traffic and agricultural products as the major exports and coal, fertilizer and edible oil as the major imports.

The likely traffic projections at Ramayapatnam are 20.26 MMT during 2020 to 46.59 MMT in 2025-26.

The total estimate of phase-I cost stands at Rs 4,240 crore with 8 number of berths.