Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy is said to have been upset with the Krishnapatnam port operator Navayuga Group for coming in the way of the Centre establishing a second major port in Prakasam district. The Union ministry of shipping and National Board of Shipping narrowed down their choice to Ramayampet as the most suitable location after a thorough technical and feasibility study of two other sites.
With Ramayampet falling in the exclusive zone of Krishnapatnam port, the state government wan-ted to take the Navayuga Group along with it to avoid litigation and delay in launching the project. Sources close to the CM said the Navayuga Group did not respond to infrastructure and investment secretary Sunil Sarma’s overtures. When the latter invited them for discussions on the proposed project, the group’s representatives stayed away. “Mr Sarma convened a meeting with them twice to discuss a mutually-agreed-upon solution but their representatives never turned up,” sources said.
The state government chose Ramayampet after the Naval authorities rai-sed objections to Nakkapalli in Visakhapatnam. Another location in Nellore could not be finalised because of its proximity to the Sriharikota space station and Pulicat lake. Earlier, the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government had liberally granted exclusive zones to all the existing port operators to help them avoid competition from new ports.