HYDERABAD: Telangana is set to sail in the waters off Andhra Pradesh coast by developing a seaport of its own in the neighbouring state. The proposal is in its formative stage and, if all goes well, the two Telugu-speaking states will even partner to develop a port on the AP coast.

“The idea is still in an embryonic stage and Telanagna has to come up with a proper proposal before we put it on the paper,” said V Ravikumar, director of ports, Andhra Pradesh. “Since it is a welcome move, let them come with the proposal and we will cooperate.

After all Telangana is our neighbour,” Ravikumar added.

Stressing the need for a seaport for his land-locked state, Telangana industry minister Jupally Krishna Rao said his government was seriously toying with the idea that would burnish the image of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as investment destinations.

“It is in the very beginning stage, and it takes a little time before we prepare a proposal. It all depends on the response of the AP government. But, I hope it would be positive,” said Krishna Rao.

After sparring over sharing of river water and power, Telangana and AP called a truce when governor ESL Narasimhan played peacemaker between the chief ministers of the two states last week over sharing of Nagarjunasagar water. Sources said K Chandrasekhar Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu discussed the areas which call for mutual cooperation, and setting up a seaport in AP for Telangana is one such bright idea to take the relations between the two new states to a higher level.

The Centre has already assured Telangana of a dry port on the banks of Godavari river, but the new state is aspiring to have an exclusive seaport which could boost its export-import activity.

While a dry port is an internal terminal directly linked to a seaport by rail or road, Krishna Rao said Telangana would do well to have a seaport given the rich mineral resources in the state.

Telangana’s seaport proposal comes at a time when Andhra Pradesh has embarked on a scheme to develop 14 greenfield ports on its coast in the next five years.

Ravikumar said while three ports including Narasapur, Bhavanapadu, and Ramayapattanam were expected to be grounded in the next fiscal year starting April 1, there is a lot of scope for Telangana and AP to develop a seaport jointly. “The mode of operation is subject to feasibility. We can consider all possible modes including equity partnership between the two states, public private partnership or a lease-based operation,” he said. “However, it all depends on what kind of agreement the two governments will arrive at,” he added.

Among the proposed greenfield ports, Narasapur, Nizampatnam, and Vodarevu ports are geographically closer to Telangana border and sources said it was likely that state government would zero in on one of them.

“The ideal situation is to have an exclusive seaport. Without which we can access existing ports through various means and the issue is not critical,” said K Pradeep Chandra, special secretary to Telangana government.