EPC Contractor Appointed for Krishnapatnam Trunk Infrastructure Works

What was decided

NICDC's official project-monitoring dashboard records that an EPC Contractor has been appointed in February, 2024 for the Krishnapatnam Industrial Area, and that development of internal trunk infrastructure works is in progress as of the report's most recent update. The appointment covers the construction, testing and commissioning of internal trunk infrastructure — roads, drains, water supply, sewerage and power systems — for the node's Phase-1 activation area.

Which body made the decision

The contracting authority is the project Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) originally incorporated as NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited (NKICDL). NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited, SPV was incorporated on 7th August 2018. The SPV is a joint venture between the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and India's National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT)/NICDC. The SPV was later renamed and its mandate widened: SPV – Andhra Pradesh Industrial Corridors Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (earlier NKICDL), incorporated on 7 August 2018 with equal equity of APIIC (GoAP) and NICDIT (GoI); mandate earlier limited to Krishnapatnam, expanded to Orvakal and Kopparthy through SSA/SHA amendment dated 30 October 2024. This means the entity that appointed the Krishnapatnam EPC contractor in February 2024 (then NKICDL) is the same corporate body now operating as APICDC across multiple Andhra Pradesh nodes.

How the decision was reached — tendering history

The February 2024 appointment followed several unsuccessful or repeated bid rounds floated by APIIC and NKICDL between 2021 and 2024, each for the same scope — design, construction, testing, commissioning and O&M of infrastructure works at Krishnapatnam Node under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), on an EPC basis:

• Tender Notice No. 25/ENC/APIIC/2021-22 for Design, Construction, Testing, Commissioning and Operation & Maintenance of Infrastructure Works at Krishnapatnam Node, with an ECV of INR 1190 cr (1st Call).
• Tender Notice No. 01/ENC/APIIC/2022-23 for the same scope of works, with an ECV of INR 1054.63 cr (2nd Call).
• Tender Notice No. 01/CE/NKICDL/2023-24 for the same scope of works, with an ECV of INR 1021.41 Crs.

These figures explain why the earlier reported EPC bid-value range for Krishnapatnam sits between roughly ₹1,021 crore and ₹1,190 crore. The February 2024 award closed out this tendering sequence.

Operative details — area, land and approvals

The trunk-infrastructure works being built under the February 2024 EPC appointment sit within a larger notified project envelope:

• The area of Phase-1 is 2,492 acres, within which the activation area is 2,139 acres; considering the continuity of land, land under immediate possession and environment impact assessment constraints, EPC of infrastructure works shall be taken for 2,139 acres only.
• GO Ms No 30 issued by the Industries and Commerce (Infra) Department on May 11 [2021] transferred activation area land to an extent of 2,139.15 acres from APIIC to the SPV, exempting stamp duty of about Rs 34 crore on the transfer.
• 533.86 crore has been released; EC for the project has been granted by MoEF&CC on 10th May, 2022.
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister approved the project proposals for construction of various trunk infrastructure components in Phase 1 of Krishnapatnam Industrial Area with an estimated cost of ₹2,139.44 crores.

At the wider node level, the total land available for development has been identified as 11,096 acres, with the Node spread across two sites about 60 km apart — the North Node and the South Node. The North Node — where Phase 1 EPC works are located — covers eight villages in Chillakuru and Kota mandals, SPSR Nellore district. The underlying State Support Agreement and Shareholders' Agreement that set up the project structure were signed years earlier: the State government, NICDIT, and APIIC entered into a State Support Agreement (SSA) and Shareholders' Agreement (SHA) on November 29, 2017.

Practical effect and current status

The practical effect of the February 2024 appointment is that Krishnapatnam moved from a multi-year tendering phase into actual on-ground construction of its Phase-1 trunk infrastructure — the roads, drains, water and sewerage systems, and power works needed before industrial plots can be handed over 'plug-and-play' to investors. Beyond the EPC award itself, the project has since seen further milestones: the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone on 8th January 2025, and the project was reviewed by the Prime Minister during the 49th Pragati Meeting on 24th September 2025.

As of NICDC's monitoring report, the trunk-infrastructure build-out is not yet complete: development of internal trunk infrastructure works is in progress. Independent industry tracking suggests the Tumakuru and Krishnapatnam nodes are both under construction and are expected to deliver plug-and-play infrastructure by late 2026, though this projected completion date has not been confirmed in NICDC's own official filings and should be treated as an external estimate rather than a notified deadline.