Work on SCoR zone HQ in Vizag may start in 2024

New Year, New Hope

• AP govt promises 15-20 acres of land for SCoR zone HQ within 10 days
• Construction will begin immediately upon receiving the land: Railway Min Vaishnaw
• No deadline was set, but the Detailed Project Report is complete
• Simhachalam, Vepada, Kothavalasa stations will be developed as satellite stations to decongest the main station

Visakhapatnam: There may be some headway in taking up work to operationalise the South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone with headquarters in Visakhapatnam in the New Year if one goes by the assertion by Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw that they will commence work on construction of buildings the next day the Andhra Pradesh government hands over land required zonal headquarters, quarters and other pre-prerequisites.

The proposal, conceded following a long-time pending among the locals, is hanging fire even though it has been promised in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and a categoric announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a pre-election rally in Visakhapatnam in 2019.

There is some positive development as top officials from the district administration promised Vaishnaw during his visit to the city on Saturday that 15 to 20 acres will be handed over in the next 10 days. Vaishnaw told the media that they will launch the construction work after the land required for creating required infrastructure is handed over to the railways.

Railway Zone Sadhana Porata Samiti convener JV Satynarayana Murthy has been insisting on operationalising the new zone immediately by converting the office of Divisional Railway Manager to accommodate the General Manager pending completion of construction works.

Without committing any deadline, Vaishnaw played safe during his visit to the city saying they will need just a day to lay stone for the zone and launch the work. During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi a year ago there was talk that he would lay the stone for the new zone.

Vaishnaw stated that the Detailed Project Report for the zone is completed envisaging construction works worth Rs 106.89 crore. In the Union Budget for 2023-24, an allocation of Rs 10 crore was made. The East Coast Railway zone officials with headquarters at Bhubaneswar were recently asked to finalise the layout for the new zone. The Railway Board has already cleared construction works for the zone in an area of 52.2 acres at Mudasarlova in the city. The land was allotted to the railways in lieu of its property taken over by the State government for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).

During his visit, Vaishnaw held a high-level review meeting here and inspected Simhachalam, Vepada and Kothavalasa stations promising to develop them into satellite stations to decongest traffic at the main station.

Simhachalam has been chosen for redevelopment as ‘Amrit Station.’ at an estimated cost of Rs 19.8 crore. He elucidated the detailed facilities that are being planned in the new world-class station buildings at Simhachalam and Kothavalasa. The Minister said more Vande Bharat trains will be introduced, with one train being manufactured per week. He urged people not to associate railways with politics and highlighted the government’s investment of Rs 8,406 crore for railway development in Andhra Pradesh, whereas only Rs 800 crore spent in undivided Andhra Pradesh 10 years ago.

However, he emphasized that the State government should take the lead in land allocation for such projects. He also said that 15 stations in this region have been chosen for redevelopment as Amrit Stations with world-class facilities. He elaborated the rapid progress in the expansion of 5G mobile services in the country and stated that BSNL 5G services will be available by Diwali as part of this expansion. As many as 4,000 new cell phone towers are being set up across Andhra Pradesh. The Railway Minister noted that most of the construction for these developments is taking place in North Coastal Andhra.