Land acquisition completed for Google data centre project in Visakhapatnam

VISAKHAPATNAM: The district administration has completed the acquisition of 308 acres of land in Tarluwada village near Anandapuram for the proposed data centre project of Raiden Infotech, Google’s Indian subsidiary. The acquisition was undertaken on behalf of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), which is expected to hand over 266.6 acres for the data centre project. Although some assignees were initially hesitant to part with their land, the acquisition process was ultimately completed. At one stage, the authorities suspected that certain opposition elements were attempting to impede the proceedings. The Google data centre project will be spread across three locations in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts, with Tarluwada likely to emerge as the principal hub. Google earlier announced plans to invest $15 billion over the next five years to establish an artificial intelligence hub in Visakhapatnam, for which the state government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the company. The government believes the project will position Visakhapatnam as a key technology and innovation destination in the country. Google’s Indian subsidiary, Raiden Infotech, has named Adani Infra, AdaniConneX, Adani Power India, Bharti Airtel, Nxtra Data and Nxtra Vizag (subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel) as project partners for the Vizag data centre. Adani Infra is the primary notified partner, and all land parcels will initially be transferred to it. Following preliminary works, Raiden has proposed internal transfers. The Rambilli site will be transferred to Nxtra Data or its subsidiaries for developing the data centre campus, while the Tarluwada and Adavivaram-Mudasarlova sites will be transferred to AdaniConneX or its subsidiaries for development. Meanwhile, the AP govt on Wednesday approved increasing the land allotted to the data centre from 480 acres to 601.4 acres. Under the revised allotment, the state allocated 266.6 acres at Tarluvada, 160 acres at Adavivaram and Mudasarlova, and 175 acres at Rambilli. The earlier allotment included 160 acres at Rambilli, 200 acres at Adavivaram and Mudasarlova, and 200 acres at Tarluvada, totalling 480 acres. The company also informed the government that it is in the process of incorporating three special purpose vehicles (SPVs), fully owned by it, to ensure efficient project execution and compliance with local and state regulations. The SPVs are: Vizag Hyperscale Data Center Park Limited (Adavivaram – Mudasarlova lands), Vizag Mega Data Center Park Limited (Tarluvada lands), and Vizag Rambilli Data Center Park Limited (Rambilli lands), according to a government order released on Wednesday. Anandapuram tehsildar S Srinu Babu told TOI that all 51 assignees have given their written consent to hand over the land for the project. “For every acre handed over to the government, they will receive 40 lakh as compensation, 20 cents of land, and other benefits,” Babu said. Bheemili MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao, under whose constituency Tarluwada falls, said the project will become a growth engine for Visakhapatnam. “The compensation was increased to Rs 20 lakh per acre, instead of the sub-registrar rate of Rs 17 lakh. For 80 cents in an acre, each assignee will get two-and-a-half times compensation (40 lakh), along with an additional 20 cents of land. Each affected family would be provided a job, a shop in a shopping complex for livelihood support, and three cents of house-site land for 520 farmers cultivating under the wasteland development scheme,” he said.