Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has directed officials to establish a new logistics corporation to streamline cargo handling for Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states. In a review meeting on industries and infrastructure held at the state secretariat on Monday, Naidu proposed that the corporation manage cargo movement across sea, air, road, rail, and inland waterways, ensuring efficient and integrated logistics operations.

The meeting addressed the development of ports and airports, revisions to the Maritime Policy, and the creation of the Logistics Corporation to drive economic growth.

Naidu emphasized the state’s ambitious plan to develop 20 ports and multiple new airports, transforming their surrounding areas into economic hubs. “We must develop satellite townships around every port and airport to foster regional development, boost economic activity, and create wealth,” he said. These townships would enhance connectivity and stimulate growth in new regions.

“Andhra Pradesh is poised to become a central hub for all modes of cargo transport-road, rail, air, inland waterways, and maritime,” he said. He pointed to the state’s strategic location as a key transit point for goods moving between northern and southern India. To achieve seamless connectivity, he instructed officials to ensure national highways and railways are well-linked to ports and airports, with pothole-free roads and robust inland waterway networks to facilitate cargo transport from within the state.

Describing the logistics corporation as a “growth engine” for the state economy, the Chief Minister also proposed developing satellite townships near the 175 MSME parks being established statewide to further drive industrial and economic progress.

Naidu urged officials to expedite the construction of Kuppam and Dagadarthi airports, prioritizing timely land acquisition and project commencement. He emphasized the need for well-connected internal roads linking these airports to national highways, with viability gap funding to be utilized if required.

To attract greater investment, Naidu advocated for updates to the state’s Maritime Policy to support the development of new ports, terminals, ship-building units, inland waterways, and cruise terminals. Officials reported that companies have expressed interest in establishing ship-building units in Machilipatnam, Moolapeta, and Chinaganjam.

The Chief Minister instructed officials to identify suitable locations for these ship-building units while ensuring that port and facility construction does not disrupt local fishermen’s livelihoods. He stressed the need to allocate space for fishermen to store their equipment.

Further, the Chief Minister emphasized the importance of developing container ports, referencing a past instance where Andhra Pradesh lost a container port to Tamil Nadu due to mismanagement by the previous government.

Senior officials from the Industries Department attended the meeting.