NITI Aayog's Growth Hub Plan To Be Launched In Vizag Soon
Under the NITI Aayog's growth hub programme, Visakhapatnam is selected as one among four cities in the country
Speakers at CII public session on Swarnandhra Vision-2029 in Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam: The Growth Hub Plan for developing Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region, which is at advanced stage of finalisation will be launched soon in consultation with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, NITI Aayog Program Director--Island, PPP Partha Sarathi Reddy Chevuru, said.
He was speaking at a public session coinciding with the CII Vizag Zone's annual meeting on "Swarnandhra Vision 2029: Visakhapatnam region leading growth & innovation."
The meeting was attended, among others by Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Commissioner KSViswanathan, CII AP Chairman Dr V Murali Krishna, Vizag zone outgoing chairman Grandhi Rajesh, E&Y Director (Skill Development) Amit Mazumdar and CII former AP chairman Neeraj Sarda.
Under the NITI Aayog's growth hub programme, Visakhapatnam is selected as one among four cities in the country for adopting various strategies and action plans to develop the entire region's economy and urban areas with sustainable and smart technologies. It is conceived under the Viksit Bharat Vision, which envisages to transform India into a $30 trillion economy. Swarnandhra Vision of Andhra Pradesh aims to make the State a $2.2 trillion economy by 2047.
Other cities which have been chosen for development as growth hubs are Mumbai, Surat and Varanasi. Reddy said the plan is to boost key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, trade, commerce and transport through strategic planning with prior public consultation.
Reddy emphasised that the Growth Hub initiative aims to identify the key growth drivers for Andhra Pradesh and stressed the need for industry-aligned policies and strategic city planning to boost both urban development and economic growth. He highlighted Andhra Pradesh’s advantages, including its long coastline, robust ports, highways, airports, and rail network, offering industries reduced logistics costs.
With the Vizag-Raipur and Raipur-Dhanbad economic corridors and numerous infrastructure projects in the pipeline, the focus is on attracting investments by showcasing these strengths, he disclosed.
He also underscored the importance of leveraging human capital and diversifying education beyond STEM to legal, financial, and other sectors. He advocated using models like Transfer of Technology (ToT) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InviT) to drive development in the highway sector.
Exuding high expectations in the growth hub project, Viswanathan said they are launching cluster based water rejuvenation initiative with an investment of Rs.350 crore out of which 150 crore is being released by the Centre. He said steps are being taken to address regular occurrence of coastal erosion with an outlay of Rs200 crore to strengthen the ecosystem.
He highlighted Visakhapatnam’s strategic importance in the State’s development agenda, highlighting significant steps taken to bridge existing gaps.
