Call for steps to promote Brand Vizag

Stakeholders during a discussion on vision document make suggestions for orderly growth of the city. Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry sought steps to make the city dog and mosquito-free, formation of various committees involving stakeholders for its orderly growth and respond positively to criticism by visitors on social media on the city’s drawbacks.

Several stakeholders have sought initiatives to promote Brand Vizag and develop a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of its own with long and short-term plans for its orderly growth.

The vision document proposed by the government will take care of the needs of the district in general and the city in particular. During interactions held with stakeholders, District Collector N. Yuvaraj and officials from various agencies were asked to put an end to the impression that everything was being grabbed by Vijayawada-Guntur region – be it establishment of State Capital or location of important government offices and premier educational and health/research institutes.

Mooting studies by Andhra University and GITAM University on the basis of SWOT--an analysis for structured development by evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, several participants, including elected representatives, called for promoting Brand Vizag.

Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry sought steps to make the city dog and mosquito-free, formation of various committees involving stakeholders for its orderly growth and respond positively to criticism by visitors on social media on the city’s drawbacks.

VCCI vice-president A.V. Monish Row told The Hindu that he expressed concern at the meeting over wrong signals being sent to the investors over talk of centralised development of Vijayawada-Guntur. “This has to be stopped otherwise investors would lose interest to put their money in and around Vizag,” he said.

Advocating inclusive planning, they said the vision document should be prepared by seeking the opinion of all the stakeholders and pointed out how the beach road had turned ugly due to haphazard planning.

Green colonies

Batting for development of environment-friendly Visakhapatnam, VCCI asked the district administration to espouse for sustainable infrastructure and pay thrust on development of green colonies on the suburbs to decongest the main city.

“We suggested initiatives to make the city mosquito and dog-free, promote recycling of solid waste and used water and explore generating power and other wealth from garbage,” Mr.Row said.