Union Minister of Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation Rao Inderjit Singh said in reply to a question by Vijayawada MP Kesineni Sivanath in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that Visakhapatnam was selected as one of the four ‘Growth Hub’ pilot sites in the country initiated by NITI Aayog.

The other three growth hubs are Mumbai metropolitan region, Varanasi and Surat.

He stated that the city regions identified as growth hubs would be developed on the basis of three key components, namely economic and investment plans, quality of life and inclusivity and sustainability plans. Specific economic plans have been developed for each of these economic regions.

NITI Aayog implements the initiative with the respective State governments and knowledge partners. The Visakhapatnam Economic Region, which has been selected for the said pilot project, includes Anakapalle, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Parvathipuram-Manyam, Alluri Sitharama Raju, Kakinada and East Godavari districts.