The construction of Machilipatnam port will be completed by December 2025, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said.
He was speaking to mediapersons after inspecting the port works in Machilipatnam on Wednesday. The port will be developed as a ‘Capital Port’ integrated with the upcoming new Greenfield capital Amaravati in view of its close proximity, Naidu said.
Located at a distance of about 70 km from Vijayawada, Machilipatnam port, popularly known as the Bandar Port, is connected to Vijayawada through an expressway.
The proximity to the port will also be beneficial for industry; the upcoming port will also attract prospective investors to the State, the Chief Minister said.
Capacity of the port
On the capacity of the port, he said the current plan of developing the port with four berths would be adequate for now and future capacities can be added as on when needed. While the port works were commenced by the then TDP government during 2014-19, it was put on the back burner by the YSR Congress Party government which lost the mandate in elections held in May this year, he added.
The construction of the Greenfield port at Manginapudi near Machilipatnam is coming up in about 1,145 acres. The port has a draft of 14.5 m and is designed to handle vessels weighing around 60,000 DWT in the initial phase.
The upcoming port received environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change; a special purpose vehicle — Machilipatnam Port Development Corporation Ltd has been floated. The Power Finance Corporation had already approved a loan of ₹4,500 crore for the project.