In a significant step towards construction of the long-delayed Machilipatnam port, Krishna District Collector Ahmed Babu instructed the Revenue Division Officer to issue a draft notification for acquisition of 2,288 acres of private land soon after completing the survey in two weeks.
Land requirement
In a review meeting held with the Director of Ports V. Ravi Kumar in the late Friday night, Mr. Babu said that as many as 412 acres had already been handed over to the port officials out of the 3,035 acres identified for the project.
However, the total requirement of land for the project has been put at 5,324 acres.
He asked the Revenue Department to initiate steps for payment of fair compensation to those giving lands in view of the concerns expressed by the land-owners.
The Collector also wanted rail and road connectivity to be provided to the port.
A 5 km-long link road and a bypass road from NH-216 that links Katthipudi in East Godavari district with Ongole were to be laid.
The port was to be given top priority by district administration to fulfil the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s aspiration to give the project a tangible shape at the earliest.
