Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday, October 16 announced that he will shift to Visakhapatnam in December this year. Jagan Mohan Reddy said he had asked officers to look for good premises for him to shift to the port city. He said the officials scouted for a suitable campus for him, his security and the CMO officials.
“I was hoping for October but December would probably be the outer line when I would actually be staying in Vizag,” he said, hoping that this would give the required push to make Vizag Tier-I city. He made the announcement at the inauguration of Infosys’ development centre at Rushikonda in the port city.
"Unfortunately after Hyderabad broke away post bifurcation we do not have a Tier-I city as such. IT and related services and the kind of industries related to Tier-I cities could not be housed in Vizag because Hyderabad was our capital. Vizag remained a Tier-II city. Nevertheless Vizag is the biggest city in Andhra Pradesh and has the potential to catapult into Tier-I city like Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Chennai,” he said.
Emphasising the eductaion sector's progress in Vizag Jagan said, "Vizag is an educational hub with eight universities, four medical colleges, 14 engineering colleges and 12 degree colleges. The city is generating 12,000 to 15,000 engineers every year.There are prestigious institutes like IIM and National Law University.
The chief minister said that Vizag also has public sector companies IOC, Eastern Naval Command which houses almost 20,000 Naval officers. A strong port based infrastructure with two ports while a third port is coming up at Srikakulam, not far from the city. An international airport is also coming up at Bhogapuram and will be ready in the next two years.
Last week, the state government constituted a committee of officials to identify suitable transit accommodation, including a camp office for the Chief Minister and accommodation for senior functionaries.
It was stated that the chief minister will be visiting Visakhapatnam on a regular basis to hold review meetings on the development of north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
During a cabinet meeting held last month, the Chief Minister had announced that the state administration would shift to Visakhapatnam on Dasara.