Andhra Pradesh

Rs.120 cr. for market yard

VISAKHAATNAM: A modern market yard with cold storage and other facilities will come up on the outskirts of the city with an investment of Rs.120 crores on infrastructure on an area of 50 acres.

Announcing this at a press conference after a review meeting, Minister for Marketing M. Marappa said the project would be taken up under public-private partnership programme for which tenders being submitted by private partners would be finalised soon. He said the Centre would give funds with 25 per cent subsidy for the project.

He said they were searching for a suitable land for allotment for the project, which would have cold storage facility for vegetables as well as seafood. It would have state-of-the-art infrastructure as per international standards.

Mr. Marappa said market yards would also come up at Tirupati and Hyderabad. The total cost of yards proposed at Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Hyderabad would be Rs.450 crores (excluding the cost of land). The private partner would be entrusted with the responsibility to maintain the yards.

On the delay in acquisition of 12 acres sought from the Visakhapatnam Port Trust on lease for construction of warehousing, he said delay had occurred as the port authorities had sought a deposit of Rs.2.30 crores. He said with intervention from the Central Government, they would provide bank guarantee and take possession of the site at the earliest.

He also said the State Government had taken a decision to construct godowns in each mandal in an area of one acre with an investment of Rs.25 lakhs.

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