| INDIAN
STATE : ANDAMAN
AND NICOBAR ISLANDS
In the east of Indian mainland is
the archipelago of 572 emerald islands, islets and rocks
known as Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Port Blair is
the capital as well a busting commercial hub. The main
landmasses in the northern group - the Andaman Islands
- are North, Middle and South Andaman islands that are
separated by narrow waterways. Smaller islands lie dotted
around these. Further south across Duncan Passage is
Little Andaman. Northeast of Port Blair is Ritchie's
Archipelago, in which lies Havelock Island, boasting
of beaches rated amongst the best in the world. Rising
from the azure waters northeast of Ritchie's Archipelago
are two islands of volcanic origin - Narcondum Islands
and Barren Island. The latter is India's only active
volcano.The southern group-the Nicobar Islands-is mostly
inaccessible to tourists. It is separated from the Andaman
Islands by the Ten Degree Channel. The southernmost
island, Great Nicobar, is the largest island in this
group whereas the northernmost island, Car Nicobar,
is the administrative headquarters.
This Union Territory has a length
of more than 700 kms from North to South with 36 inhabited
islands. These undulating islands are covered with dense
forests and endless variety of exotic flora and fauna.
The topography of the islands is hilly and abounds in
evergreen forests. The sea around the islands offers
excellent scope for adventure water sports. The rare
flora and fauna, underwater marine life and corals,
crystal clear water and mangrove-lined creeks, offer
a dream view of the rare gifts of nature. These
islands are home to the aboriginal tribes such as the
Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas and Sentinalese, all of Negrito
origin, while the tribes of Nicobars is the Nicobarese
and Shompens, both of Mongoloid origin.
Advantage Andaman and Nicobar
- Rare varieties of flora and fauna, exotic underwater
marine life, crystal clear water and mangrove lined
creeks.
- High literacy rate of 81.29%
- Vast Marine Potential.
- Peaceful Environment with negligible Industrial
dispute/law and order problem.
- Close knit/streamlined/compact administration, clearance
etc. can be obtained in timely fashion.
- Near to Intemational Trade Corridor.
Economic Infrastructure
By
Sea
Regular passenger ship services are
available to Port Blair from Chennai, Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam
and back. There are three to four sailings every month
from Kolkata and Chennai to Port Blair and vice-versa.
There is one sailing from Vishakhapatnam in a month.
The voyage takes about 50 to 60 hours and the ship normally
berths at Port Blair for about two to four days
By Air
Port Blair is connected with Chennai
and Kolkata by air. Presently Alliance Air/Indian Airlines
and Jet Airways operate flights. Foreign tourist charter
flights are also permitted to land at Port Blair subject
to the fulfilment of guidelines of the Director General
of Civil Aviation.
Thrust Areas
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration
has identified the following sectors as the thrust areas
for overall Development of the Islands:
- Tourism
- Coir & Coconut based Industries
- Information Technology Enabled Services
- Hydro Carbon Energy/
- Non conventional Energy
- Wooden, Shell.
- Cane & Bamboo Handicrafts
- Shipping Sectors including Transshipment port, Bunkering
facilities and Dry Dock
- High value Agricultural Products
- Service Industry
- Fisheries
Investment Opportunities
Tourism
The Islands of Andaman and Nicobar are blessed with
rare variety of flora and fauna, exotic underwater marine
life, crystal clear water and mangrove lined creeks.
The Union T enritory offers innumerable opportunities
for tourism through water sports and adventure tourism
such as trekking, island camping, snorkeling and scuba
diving, sea aquarium, water theme park, wave surfing,
Marina yatch, convention centre, health resorts, sanctuaries
/ National Park, Inter Island cruise liner etc.Recent
developments in Andaman and Nicobar's tourism sector
include:
- Expression of interest for Integrated Water front
complex including Yacht Marina for selection of developer
under PPP is being floated.
- Expression of Interest for 35 room luxury boat planned
to be implemented under PPP is being floated.
- Expression of interest for two Mechanized luxury
boats of I5 passenger capacity to be implemented under
PPP is being floated.
- RFQ for four sites each at Havelock, Neil, Hut Bay
and Long Islands (Lalaji Bay) for development of tourist
destination under Public Private Partnership (PPP)
is being floated shortly.
- Convention center is under construction at Havelock,
Dolphin Resort.
- Investors are invited for setting up Scuba Diving
school at Havelock, Administration will render all
assistance.
- Plying of house boat and backwater cruises will
also be supported by the Administration.
Fisheries
The Islands offer a vast marine potential for the fishing
and marine sector, owing to a long coastline of 19I2
Kms with an exclusive economic zone of
6 lakh sq km accounting for 30% of the total Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Country (2.02 million sq
km) and a unique and rare marine habitat. The estimated
annual fishery potential of Island is 0.15 million tons
consisting about 3.8 percent of fisheries potential
of the country (3.9 million tons). The present level
of catch is 28,000 tons (18.92 percent). It has been
estimated that tuna fishery resource alone accounts
for 44 percent (64,500 Tons).Recent developments in
Andaman and Nicobar's fishery sector include:
- Establishment of 18 fish landing centers;of which
four are under constnuction.
- Potential for investment in fishing, processing,
storage, transportation, marketing and export of various
fish and fish products including tuna and tuna like
fishes.
- Potential for investment for Culture of fish and
shell fishes in bays and in shore water.
- Scope for coastal aqua culture.
- Scope for sports fishing.
- Scope for fresh water fish culture.
Ports & Shipping
The proximity ofthe islands to the International Trade
Corridor offers good potential to the container port
industry. Great Nicobar Islands having the distinctive
advantage of being in close proximity with the Indonesian
coast line, and the Neighboring South East Asian Countries,
with a deviation time of just two hours from the East-West
International Shipping Route is considered as an Ideal
location for bunkering facility and establishment of
Trans-shipment Port.Recent developments in Andaman and
Nicobar's ports and shipping sector include:
- Feasibility study for establishment of Trans-shipment
Port at Great Nicobar has been initiated.
- For establishment of bunkering facility at Great
Nicobar under PPP a feasibility study is planned.
- For establishment of Dry Dock under PPP, a Request
for Proposal (RFP) is being floated.
Power
Andaman & Nicobar Islands have adequate power supply
with a combined generation of 68 MW and the following
additional capacity is planned.There is a potential
of about 4MW generation capacity through Bio Mass using
Coconut waste etc., in South Andaman. By adding 25%
of coal dust about 5MW can be generated.Expression of
Interest (EOI) has been floated for the same.
Planned augmentation of 33 MW generation capacity in
South Andaman by using multi fuels such as Bio Mass,
Coal Dust etc., for which the Central Electricity Authority
has given In principal approval.Recent developments
in Andaman and Nicobar's power sector include:
- EOI for 2 MW generation capacity through Biomass
in Little Andaman has been floated.
- EOI for 1.5 MW generation capacity through Biomass
in Car Nicobar has been floated.
Information Technology Enabled Services
The Andaman & Nicobar Administration has identified
Information Technology enabled Services
(ITeS) as one of the thrust area of development services
like Distributed transaction processing (DTP), cyber
cafe, medical transcription, software development, BPO
etc.,ITeS covers diverse areas like finance, HR, administration,
health care, telecommunication, manufacturing etc. Armed
with technology & manpower, these services can be
provided from e-enabled locations. This radically reduces
costs and Improves service standards.In short, this
administration aims to facilitate B2B e-commerce solutions,
which are human intensive services that are delivered
over telecom networks or the internet with a range of
business segments.
Agriculture
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands enjoy a tropical and
humid climate and receive an average rainfall of 3000
mm in about eight months commencing from May to January.
The area under Agriculture is nearly 50,000 ha. which
accounts for 6% of the total area. Out of this total
cultivated area 12,000 ha. are flat land and the rest
are hilly land. In hilly lands majority of the holdings
are dominated with Coconut/Areca nut palms. The prevailing
favorable soil and agro-c1imatic condition offer wide
opportunities and immense potential for Horticultural
crops like spices, fruits, plantation crops, Floriculture,
Medicinal Aromatic and Dye Plants which contribute a
lot towards our national economy in view of their huge
domestic and export demands.
There is good scope for value added coconut products
and there is an immediate need to exploit this resource.
In Nicobar District area under coconut is 14516.54 ha.
with a production of 53.96 million nuts. This provides
an opportunity for establishment of an Integrated coconut
processing complex at Car Nicobar.
- Administration is setting up a Coconut Mission for
promotion of value added products based on Coconut
and Copra.
- Ample opportunity for setting up of integrated coconut
complex under PPP.
- Ample opportunity for Horticulture and Floriculture.
Package of Incentives for Small
& Micro Enterprise in Andaman & Nicobar Islands
- Andaman & Nicobar Island Transport Subsidy programme
for Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs).
- Andaman & Nicobar Inter Island
Transport subsidy programme for SMEs III.
- Andaman & Nicobar Capital Investment Subsidy
Programme for SMEs.
- 50% Subsidy for procurement of Pollution Control
Equipments, Captive power.
- Generation sets, Solar Power, Wind Power, Bio Mass,
Hydro Power & Water harvesting equipments for
SME units in Islands.
- 90% subsidy on copra dryer, Coir processing equipments,
Bakery equipments, hand tools for General Engineering,
Carpentry, Masonry and Handicrafts to Tribals.
- The following new programmes have been proposed
in the Annual Plan 2009-10:
- Interest Free Loan to IT & ITeS
- 50% subsidy to IT & ITeS.
Useful
Web links
Government
of Andaman and Nicobar
Andaman
and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation
Limited (ANIIDCO)
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