By Md Ilyas

Copyright deccanchronicle

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Friday outlined key initiatives to enhance the logistics and infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh.He said the government has prepared the AP Logistics Inventory Map, integrating industries, roads, railways and ports. A blueprint for the state logistics policy would be developed. Naidu announced that AP would be developed as a knowledge hub and destination for future technology to achieve the “one family-one entrepreneur” goal. The present government, he said, has provided employment to 4.71 lakh youths by focusing on skill development. These apart, appointment orders were handed over to 15,941 newly recruited teachers. “We also launched a skill census programme, through which the skills of 3.5 crore people have been analysed so far.” Presenting details on logistics, industries and employment in the AP Assembly on Friday, the Chief Minister said that providing jobs to youths in both government and private sectors remained a top priority for his government. He said, “Efforts are underway to create employment through the work-from-home model for 5,500 people. In the past year alone, 4.71 lakh youths secured jobs, including 3.48 lakh in the private sector. Another 9,093 candidates found opportunities in government departments and 6,100 in the police department.” Naidu emphasised the need to foster a competitive spirit among youth. An Aviation University and a Logistics University are also coming up in AP, in addition to the central government’s Centre for Excellence. Tourism, he noted, has been accorded industry status to attract higher investments. He said, “A target has been set to create 50,000 hotel rooms across the state, alongside promoting homestays. The tourism sector contributes 8 per cent to the GSDP and generates large-scale employment opportunities.” Vijayawada, Naidu said, has also been added to the temple tourism map by hosting the Dasara Utsav on a grand scale, which is comparable to the festival shows in Mysore and Kolkata. Prime minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Srisailam soon, he said. On logistics, the CM said that the AP Logistics Corporation will be established to make the state a leading logistics hub. “The government is adopting a holistic approach to bring down logistics costs. A blueprint will be prepared to achieve this by developing a multi-modal transport system, promoting water transport through rivers and canals, and laying pipelines for commodities such as iron ore,” he said. On infrastructure, Naidu said roads would be developed across the state at a cost of `4,500 crore, while national projects worth ` 1.5 lakh crore were in progress. He said AP ranked second in the national highway network. In port development, too, the state held the second position after Gujarat in cargo handling. The CM explained that at present, AP ports handled 182 million tonnes of cargo, with the state’s capacity set to increase by another 100 million tonnes once four more ports are ready. A bullet train project connecting Hyderabad-Amaravati-Chennai and Bengaluru is also on the anvil. On investments, the CM said that the state government has succeeded in restoring investor confidence and has attracted ` 6.23 lakh crore through 123 projects in just one year. “Visakhapatnam, traditionally known as a port city and steel city, is now emerging as a major IT hub, with Google setting up a data centre and companies like TCS, Cognizant and Accenture establishing offices there,” the CM added.