Big News: Mega Industrial Park In Satya Sai District

In yet another good news to the youth in the state of Andhra Pradesh, a Mega Industrial Park is set to take shape in the Sri Satya Sai district. According to the officials, the industrial park would be developed in 23,000 acres, including the land allocated for the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub at the Kodikonda checkpost.

Factories would be established in 16 categories, dealing in space, aerospace, electronics, drones, IT, etc. Lee and Associates, which designed the Master Plan for the development of Vizag City, was entrusted the responsibility of chalking out the Master Plan for the Industrial Park. The authorities said that the Master Plan would be submitted to the APIIC by December this year.

The Industrial Park is about 7.5 km away from the Bengaluru Devanahalli Airport. Currently, acquiring land for development of Industrial Parks near Bengaluru and Chennai has become a challenge and hence, officials have decided to set up the Park in the SSS district. It would take over 1.5 hours to reach the Devanahalli airport from the Park.

As the Industrial Park is being planned near the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub, over 8,844 acres allocated for the Hub would also be integrated into the Park. The remaining land is yet to be acquired.

Reportedly, the APIIC had already begun the works relating to acquisition of 2,000 acres in Tekulodu. In total, the APIIC would acquire over 14,000 acres for the Industrial Park. According to the officials, it is estimated that a compensation of Rs 7-14 lakh per acre could be paid as compensation to the farmers parting with the land. In that case, over Rs 800 crore would be required for the acquisition.

The amount would be taken as loan from different financial organisations, for which the APIIC has begun consultations. Recently, the government has given permission to the APIIC to raise Rs 2,000 crore loan. Basing on the demand of the land required for the acquisition, the compensation would be decided by the officials. Sri Satya Sai district collector had already submitted the proposal for the same to the APIIC.

The land acquired for Lepakshi Knowledge Hub is spread on either side of the Bengaluru National Highway. Some private lands also exist in the 8,844 acres allocated to the Lepakshi Hub. Officials have focused on acquiring the private lands. Land was allocated to the Lepakshi SEZ by the Congress government in 2009 but with a controversy surrounding the lands, the ED seized the lands.

With the firm failing to pay the loan taken putting the Lepakshi land as mortgage, the banks approached National Company Law Tribunal. Officials said that two persons from NCLT had acquired the land. It is expected that thousands of jobs, direct and indirect, would be created by the industries and their subsidiary units at the Park.