The Government of Andhra Pradesh has undertaken several infrastructural projects in order to attract significant investments into the State. These projects seeks to improve the physical connectivity of the State with the other parts of the country and thereby promote overall development of the economy. The infrastructure facilities include a sound transportation network, such that almost all the important towns in the State are well connected through roadways, railways, airways and waterways. The State also has an efficient power sector and a well developed telecommunication network. All these services creates numerous investment opportunities, enhances productivity and improves the standard of living of the people in the State.

Roadways

Roads are the most important means of transport in Andhra Pradesh. The State, being predominantly an agriculture-oriented economy, depends on road transport for the movement of agricultural produce and raw and finished material. The State is maintaining 68,286 Kms of roads, comprising:- 4,647 km of National Highways;10,231 km of State Highways; 32,222 km of major district roads; and 21186 km of rural roads. However, the length of the rural, local bodies and project roads is 1,20,282 km. The State Government has been making all efforts to encourage huge volume of investments for a planned development and sustained maintenance of the road infrastructure on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) process.

Railways

Andhra Pradesh has a rail connectivity to all the major cities of the country, for the transportation of goods traffic such as coal, iron ore, cement, food grains, fertilizers, minerals, petroleum products and general merchandise. It covers the railway route of 5,107 km; out of which 4,436 km is broad gauge, 634 km is metre-gauge and 37 km is narrow gauge. Besides, Hyderabad Metro Rail Project is also being taken up to meet the movement of commuters in the Greater Hyderabad.

Aviation

The State is well linked internally by air. It has three important airports which are located at Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati. While, the international flights are operated from Hyderabad. The present Hyderabad International Airport at Begumpet is the sixth busiest airport in India handling around 735 international movements and 3,190 domestic movements. The airport is suitable to cater up to AB 340, Boeing 777-300 and MD-11 class of aircraft operations under all weather conditions. It has been declared a full fledged customs port, with an air cargo complex having customs clearance facilities.

Also, new Hyderabad International Airport at Shamshabad is being developed. It is the first green field airport in the country. It is being designed to handle 5 million passengers per annum with 4.2 Kms run way, the longest in the country.

Ports

Andhra Pradesh has a 974 km long coastline, which provides numerous opportunities for the State to develop number of ports along the coast. Visakhapatnam is a major port in the State. It is well-known in the country for its largest cargo handling. While, the minor ports in the State are located at Kakinada, Machilipatnam, Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram, Mutyalampalem, Kalingapatnam, Bheemunipatnam, Nizamapatnam and Vadarevu. The Government has been taking several initiatives in order to further develop port infrastructure in the State. For instance, three ports namely Krishnapatnam, Kakinada and Vadarevu have been privatised.

Power

Andhra Pradesh is the third largest power utility in the country with installed capacity of 11,134 MW. Important power projects in the State are:- the Nagarjunasagar and Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Sagar (Srisailam Hydel Project), Upper Sileru, Lower Sileru, Tungabhadra Hydel Projects and Nellore, Ramagundam, Kothagudem, Vijayawada and Muddanur thermal power projects. The Srisailam Hydro Electric Project with an installed capacity of 770 MW and the Nagarjunasagar Complex with 960 MW are the principal sources of hydel generation. While, Vijayawada Thermal Power Station with an installed capacity of 1,260 MW and Kothagudem Thermal Power Station with 1200 MW are the main sources of thermal power generation. The 1,000 MW coal-based Simhadri Thermal Power Station aims at supplying the entire energy generated to the State.

Telecommunication

Andhra Pradesh is having a well connected communication network. There are 3,341 telephone exchanges and 32.64 lakh telephone connections in the State. The Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle is serving the whole State of Andhra Pradesh including the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad which alone comprises of 22 Secondary Switching Areas (SSA). Besides, optical fiber cable networks by the corporate leaders like BSNL with 44500 Kms; Reliance with 6,000 Kms; Bharat with 3450 Kms and TATA with 1700 Kms, provide wide range of communication network for the Andhra Pradesh.

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