New Delhi, June 14 (KNN) With a view to give fillip to the MSME sector in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh Government is proposing to set up at least five MSME parks in the first phase in Assembly constituency.

The move comes in the wake of protecting MSME units from the twin effect of GST and demonetization. As post demonetization and after the implementation of GST, the performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been affected badly due to which many industrial units are in the verge of closure.

Post setting up of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and other PSUs, this sector has grown widely and has also been badly hit by the twin effect of  GST and demonetization.

Hence, the State Government has taken a decision to set up at least one MSME park in each Assembly constituency - the total number of constituencies in the State being 175.

For this purpose, the MSME Development Corporation has been set up, with a target of setting up 200 such parks by 2023.

The projected investment in 30,000 MSMEs in these parks is roughly Rs 45,000 crore and 3 lakh new jobs will be created.

In Visakhapatnam district, there are 13 Assembly constituencies and the authorities are taking steps to set up at least five parks in the first phase - one each at Narsipatnam, Gurrampalem, P. Anantavaram, Nakkapalli and Atchyuthapuram.

According to A Ramalingeswara Raju, General Manager of the district industries centre, finding land for the MSME parks has become a major problem in the district.

According to the media reports, he said "we are first making use of government land wherever available to develop the infrastructure and set up the parks. We have earmarked some land in the existing SEZs as at Atchyuthapuram and Nakkapalli for the MSME parks.”

Commenting on the future of these parks, he added that they were being set up with a long-term vision, even though the present scenario may not be very congenial.

The existing MSMEs are gradually recovering from the impact of demonetization and GST regime, and we are confident that the new units will overcome the teething troubles, he added.

Around 2,400 new MSMEs have come up in the district in the last four years in addition to the existing 13,000 units.