The Andhra Pradesh government has approved plans to develop a greenfield port along with a National Mega Shipbuilding Cluster at Dugarajapatnam in Tirupati district, a move aimed at strengthening the state’s maritime and industrial base.
In an order issued on Friday, the state authorised the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board (APMB) to take forward the project, which will require the acquisition of about 2,000 acres of land. The port and shipbuilding hub are proposed under the Shipbuilding Development Scheme of the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW).
According to Special Chief Secretary for Infrastructure and Investment (Ports), M.T. Krishna Babu, the state has formally granted permission to the maritime board to initiate all actions necessary for establishing both the greenfield port and the shipbuilding cluster at Dugarajapatnam.
To oversee and fast-track the project, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be set up jointly by the central ministry and the Andhra Pradesh government. The MoPSW will support the SPV through its agencies in the state, including the Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA).
In line with scheme guidelines, the APMB will form a 50:50 joint venture SPV with Visakhapatnam Port Trust, with equal representation from the state government and the port authority on the SPV’s board. The maritime board has also been cleared to complete land acquisition, raise resources for the purpose, and transfer the land to the SPV as equity on behalf of the state government.
The project envisages the development of an anchor shipyard with an annual capacity of 0.5 million gross tonnage, to be achieved within 10 years of commissioning. The Visakhapatnam Port Authority and APMB will jointly coordinate the development, while the state has empowered the maritime board to identify and select a development partner for the shipyard.
The government order notes that India currently has a shipbuilding capacity of around 0.01 million gross tonnage per year. Under the Maritime India Vision 2030 and the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, the Centre has set a target of scaling this up to 4.5 million gross tonnage annually, with the broader objective of positioning India among the world’s top five shipbuilding nations by 2047.
