View of Governorpet Depot-2 in Vijayawada, one of the three places that is examined for the proposed Lulu Mall. | Photo Credit: Gn Rao
Lulu, based in Abu Dhabi, showed interest in investing in Vijayawad and Visakhapatnam in the state.
The meeting of the 8th State at the level of investment promotion (SIPB), which took place on July 17th, approved the projects of the CRORE 1,222 GBP, is expected to create 1,500 jobs. Officials dealing with the matter have said that representatives of Lulu Shopping Malls International Ltd. They were supposed to come last month to discuss the finer details of the project in Vijayawada, but the planned meeting was postponed. The challenge is to identify the land for projects that have a shortage of urban limits, while investors rarely show interest in setting their projects outside urban work.
Officials propose to show three places to the investment company to set up a center – around five acres of land belonging to the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) in an old bus stand near the police control room, land belonging to the Gollapudi Foundation and other land in Patamata belonging to Andhra Pradesh. “Their requirement is about five acres and all three proposed places meet their needs in terms of the area,” the official said, adding that the project is at its preliminary level and still has to touch the country.
After meeting with the main Minister N. Chandrababa Naida, chairman of the Lulu Ma Yusuf Ali, the company announced in September last year that the company will establish an international shopping center with an eight screen in Visakhapatnam and the most modern hypermarkets in Vijayawada.
The report on the proposed new facility could bring encouragement to people, especially youth in the city, but caused the opposition of some neighborhoods. CPI leaders (m) killed the government’s proposal to consider building a center on the countries belonging to APSRTC and stated that the state should instead focus on strengthening public transport infrastructure.
On Sunday, the APSRTC State Committee and Federation staff called on the government to withdraw its proposal to assign the Governor of the Depa-2 and the old bus booth land of a multinational company.
State President of the Federation Ch. Sundarayya and Secretary General M. Ayyapp Reddy claimed that in the policy of the central government, the state handed over Land to private entities.
Referring to the RTC depot reports that RTC Transport Academy and Zonal Training College in Gannavaram near the airport and land were provided by Shiv Nadar. The alternative land promised by the government must still be allocated RTC. They argued that the transfer of public real estate to corporate companies at cheap rates was part of the trick to privatize the public sector.
The Federation Head said they were also against RTC outsourcing for private players according to the GRASD COST (GCC) and stated that the government should reduce this step.
Published – 20 July 2025 20:56
