VISAKHAPATNAM: The City of Destiny has become the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh with Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan giving his consent to the decentralisation bill passed by the Assembly.
Now, the focus will be on Visakhapatnam, once a fisherman village, which has evolved into a metro city owing to its strategic location on the east coast. The development of Visakhapatnam is expected to fill the coffers of the cash-strapped State government.
Since Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced the government’s decision to make Vizag the executive capital of the State, infra projects, including metro rail, tourism projects and city beautification projects got a big push.
The city, which was the second largest city in united Andhra Pradesh, emerged as the biggest city of AP after the bifurcation. Visakhapatnam, which is dubbed as one of the fastest growing cities in Asia, has also been billed as the financial capital of the State.
Now, the city is all set to become a megapolis as it is likely to expand beyond Bhogapuram, where a strategic concept city is proposed near the international greenfield airport. Industry, both IT and manufacturing sectors, are also likely to witness rapid growth and it will be an investment hub of the State.
After the YSRC government was formed after the party got the massive mandate, it unveiled its plans to decentralise the administration. Accordingly, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government constituted an expert committee led by GN Rao and later roped in Boston Consulting Group, and both gave almost identical reports favouring Visakhapatnam as the executive capital.
The choice of these committees did not surprise many as Visakhapatnam has always been a natural choice since it has all necessary infrastructure facilities. Besides, by spending Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 crore, Visakhapatnam can become the full-fledged executive capital of the State. In the process, the city will join the big league of major cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.
The city has also the history of hosting the first Assembly session of Andhra State at TLN Sabha Hall in Andhra University in 1953. It also played host to the first Cabinet meeting of the then TDP government after the bifurcation in 2014.
Industry sources said the government should strive to win the confidence of the industry so that new projects will come up which will give a boost to both development and employment to a great extent.
Visakhapatnam, where land is scarce, is likely to witness a vertical growth in the heart of the city and horizontal growth beyond Bhogapuram in the North and Anakapalle in the South which are going to be well connected by metro rail besides six-lane national highway.
