PM inaugurates Alluri Sitarama Raju Intl Airport in Bhogapuram

AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu felicitated Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a ceremonial shawl and presented him with a traditional Bobbili Veena during the inauguration of the Alluri Sitharama Raju International Airport at Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district | Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

The civil aviation sector witnessed steep growth in the last 12 years in the number of airports facilitating air travel for the poor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.  

Speaking after inaugurating Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport in Bhogapuram near Visakhapatnam on Saturday, Modi said the total number of airports in the county had gone up from 74 in 2014 to 166 in 2026, the Prime Minister said.

The spoke airport model being adopted by the government to expand civil aviation was showing success and provided connectivity to 25 destinations from Amritsar in Punjab and the  ₹29,000 cr was spent on making air travel affordable to the poor, he added. 

Appreciating a Dhimsa tribal dance performance by 13,000 tribal dancers on the occasion, he said it set a new world record and showed tribal culture and diversity in India.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the new airport would be a catalyst for the development of north Andhra region. The first phase of the new capital, Amaravati, would be completed by 2028 along with the Polavaram project, he added.  

Union Minister for Civil Aviation K Ram Mohan Naidu the naming of the airport as Alluri Sitarama Raju would take the name of the revolutionary who fought for freedom across the world. 

G B S Raju, Business Chairman, GMR Airports said the greenfield airport, developed on 2200 acres by GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Airport Ltd (GVIAL), was developed with a long term vision to unlock opportunities in trade, tourism, cargo and aviation - related industries. It will commence operations from August 17, 2026. 

Developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode by the GMR Group at a cost of over ₹5,640 crore, the greenfield airport has been designed to handle 6 million passengers annually which can be scaled up to 40 million passengers.  

The integrated passenger terminal, designed in the shape of a locally found flying fish called Parava Meenu, reflects the culture and heritage of Andhra Pradesh.

SEMICONDUCTOR PLANT

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for ASIP Technologies semiconductor manufacturing facility at Tarluvada, Visakhapatnam. The ₹2,500 crore Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) project is Andhra Pradesh’s and South India’s first semiconductor manufacturing facility approved under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM 1.0).

The 30-acre facility, established with an initial investment of over ₹460 crore in partnership with APACT Co., South Korea, as its technology partner, will have an annual production capacity of 96 million chips. It will serve high-growth sectors, including artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing, data centres, and high-speed communications.

ASIP also plans to expand the facility with an additional investment of over ₹2,000 crore to further scale up its advanced semiconductor packaging operations. The project is expected to create over 1,000 direct high-skilled jobs and 1,600 indirect jobs.

Published on August 1, 2026