Vijayawada: The construction of the flatted factory complexes (FFCs) at the Vemavaram Jakkampudi economic township (JET City), intended to house micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), is finally set to see the light of the day. The state govt has permitted the Andhra Pradesh economic development board corporation limited (APEDCO), the original nodal agency appointed for the construction of the FFCs, to proceed with the pending land alienation and hand it over to the Andhra Pradesh industrial infrastructure corporation (APIIC).APIIC is the nodal agency for the micro and small enterprises cluster development programme (MSECDP) scheme, which includes two components: infrastructure development (ID) and common facilities cluster (CFC). APIIC will complete the pending tower works intended for MSMEs. In this regard, the government has allowed APEDCO and APIIC to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU), under which APIIC will be responsible for completing the pending parts of the first tower and the remaining towers of the FFCs.This will be done with the help of govt of India (GoI) schemes and/or private partnerships, and the allotment of completed spaces will be as per APIIC regulations. Earlier, the govt proposed to develop the Jakkampudi economic township to create a walk-to-work environment, providing a good quality of life over 234 acres in Jakkampudi and Vemavaram villages in Vijayawada rural mandal.Land was allotted to the extent of 60.01 acres in Vemavaram and 93.02 acres in Jakkampudi, totaling 153.03 acres. The govt sanctioned and took up phase-1 works of the JET CITY project at an estimated outlay of ₹143 crore under the EPC model for the development of three towers and trunk infrastructure for the flatted factories over 6.45 lakh sqft.However, the contracting agency achieved only 20% progress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and further progress was halted due to non-alienation of land parcels to APEDCO, which stalled the project due to non-release of funds.
