The present Kakinada originally known as Kaki Nandiwada was originally a Dutch settlement. The Dutch had a trading post at Jagannadhapuram, then known as Jagannaickpur. The Dutch used to export Sarees known as “Coca” or “Koka” in Telugu and hence the name Coca Nada. Kakinada was also known as Coringa to the British on account of its proximity to river Coringa.
The British East India Company also called it Kakinada when
they established the 1st Canadian Baptist Mission there. After
independence it got its present name Kakinada. The British established Kakinada
as a shipbuilding facility in 1759 and it became a shipbuilding yard of some
importance. In 1802 a dock was built there for repair of the Royal Navy. Hope
Island about 5 Km into the sea off the coast of Kakinada was then known
internationally for ship building and repairs.
The ship building facility was destroyed in 1787 on account
of a massive storm and a tidal wave of 40 feet height which killed 20,000
people. This must have been catastrophic for Kakinada as its population at that
time must have been near to 20,000. This means the entire population has been
virtually wiped out. A similar storm again hit in 1832. There was still another
massive cyclone in 1839 which finished off the port facility as well. By 1901
due to sand silting and sand deposit of the estuary no big ships could enter
the port and it was finally closed in 1905.
In the Madras presidency the district of Rajahmundry was
created in the year 1823 which comprised of the present East Godavari, West
Godavari and Krishna districts. In 1859 it was bifurcated into Godavari and
Krishna districts. Rajahmundry became the capital of the Godavari district. In
1925 when the Godavari district itself was bifurcated into East and West
Godavari districts Kakinada became the capital of East Godavari and Eluru that
of West Godavari.
It is perplexing as to why Rajahmundry which was once the
capital of the 3 consolidated districts was forsaken as the capital of East
Godavari and Kakinada was preferred instead.
Kakinada city has an elevation of 2 meters above sea level but
many areas of the city are below sea level. It has a tropical Savannah climate
with hot humid weather most of the year. Warmest period is late May to early
June 38-42 degrees centigrade coldest is 18-20 degrees centigrade in January.
Average rainfall is 110-115 Cm. Current population of Kakinada is 5,75,000. Seasonal
rainfall mainly comes from the Southwest Monsoon, and some of it also from the Northeast
monsoon.
KAKINADA TOWN RAILWAY STATION.
The Kakinada city mostly depends on Agriculture, Fishing and Industrial sectors. The majority of theindustrial sector is covered by the Edible oil refineries, Fertilizer plants & Oil & Gas. The industry developed only after 1980 and prior to that Kakinada fully depended on Agriculture& Fishing.
The Hope Island, located about 5 km away from Kakinada makes Kakinada port a natural harbor. It stretches along the coastline of Kakinada and protects the mainland of Kakinada from Cyclones by acting as a barrier..
HOPE ISLAND
Tourists can visit Hope Island by APTDC boats and enjoy the
pristine beach there.
Agro products:
1. Several companies in and around
Kakinada export coconuts.
2. The Murugappa Group’s Silk Road
Sugars has a port based sugar refinery with a capacity of 600,000 MT per annum.
3. A number of edible oil refineries
with a refining capacity of 3000 tons per day were established at Kakinada.
Fisheries:
There is a fishing harbor at Kakinada with innumerable number
of deep sea fishing boats which are anchored in the Buckingham canal between
Kakinda and Jagganaickpur. There are also thousands of hectares of land under
prawn & fish cultivation around Kakinada and also there are many prawn
hatcheries and processing and export units. Main export units are Devi Fisheries
and Apex Frozen Foods.
Although the exact tonnage is not available, a large quantity
of fish is caught at Kakinada and exported mostly to Orissa and Calcutta.
WHARF ROAD FISHING BOATS.
Software:
Kakinada is a tire II city and STPI has established a cluster here in 2007, since then a number of IT companies have come up in the city. Nearly 35 IT companies are operating at Kakinada including Cyient, Avineon, Krify and Primesoft
KRIFY SOFTWARE.
Power Generation:
There are 3 power plants in and around Kakinada. Spectrum
Energy has a 208 MW power plant at Uppada. Reliance Energy has a 220 MW power
plant and the GVK Group has a 464 MW power plant at Samalkota. GMR Energy’s
barge mounted plant of 220 MW was originally commissioned at Mangalore in 2001
was shifted to Kakinada in 2010 but was lying idle due to non availability of
natural gas.
Petroleum & Natural
gas:
The gas find in the Krishna Godavari basin is the largest in
India and ONGC, Reliance & GSPC have drilled the basin which resulted in
petroleum and gas finds.
Reliance Industries has laid a 1386 Km length pipeline to
transport natural gas from Kakinada to its petrochemical facility at Bharuch in
Gujarat. The pipeline has a diameter on 4 feet. The pipeline is in 3 layer
Polyethylene coated and internally epoxy lined.
Reliance has an onshore gas terminal at “Gadimoga” about 25
Km from Kakinada. This is the place where the natural gas of Reliance from its
offshore terminal is received and then pumped through their pipeline.
Kakinada, Peddapuram, Pithapuram and Samalkot are being
supplied cooking gas through pipeline by Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd. which is a
consortium of GAIL and Hindustan Petroleum. Kakinada was the 2nd
city in AP to have piped cooking gas supply.
The ONGC has set up a small oil refinery at Thatipaka near
Kakinada with a capacity of 250 MT per day.
RELIANCE OFFSHORE TERMINAL GADIMOGA.
RELIANCE ONSHORE TERMINAL GADIMOGA.
Fertlizer:
Nagarajuna Fertilizers Ltd. commenced operations in the year 1986-87. This is one of the largest Urea complexes in India and the plant is spread over 1130 acres. This is a natural gas based plant. The operating capacity is 1.2 million MT per annum.
NAGARJUNA FERTLIZERS.
Port:
Kakinada currently has 2 ports, the Deep water port and the
Anchorage port.
The Port’s principal exports include Seafood, Agricultural
products like Rice & Corn, Oilmeal, Processed Food Products, Chemicals,
Iron ore, Bauxite and Biofuel.
The Port’s principal imports include Crude Edible Oils,
Chemicals and Agricultural products (including wheat & sugar) and Petro
products.
Kakinada Deep Water Port was commissioned by the government
in 1997. Presently the port is equipped to handle a cargo of 20 million MT per
annum. The length of the navigation channel is 11 Km with a depth of 15 meters.
There are 7 berths in the jetty and the port can handle vessels up to 50,000
DWT.
Cargo handled during the FY 2019-20-- 15.35 MMT. In comparison Vizag handles 65 MMT per year
KAKINADA PORT.
Education:
There are 65 Government Schools in Kakinada with 11,240
students apart from the numerous private schools.
Universities:
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. A large number of Engineering
Colleges in the state are affiliated to this University.
JNTU.
There is also a PG Centre of the Andhra University.
ANDHRA
UNIVERSITY PG CENTRE.
Engineering Colleges:
There are 9 Engineering
Colleges in Kakinada, they are:
1.
JNTU Engineering
College
2.
Aditya Engineering Colleges( 3 in number)
3.
Pragathi
Engineering College
4.
Kakinda Institute
of Engineering and College (KIET)
5.
Ideal Engineering
College.
6.
PYDAH Engineering
College
7.
VSL Engineering
College for Women
Medical College:
There is just one medical college at Kakinada
named Rangaraya Medical College.
RNGARAYA MEDICAL COLLEGE.
Places to see:
Uppada Beach Road: Kakinada has a beach stretching from about 1 Km away from the
Lighthouse at Vakalapudi right up to Uppada, a distance of 10 Km. although the
entire stretch is not available for approaching the beach. As one traverses the
road from Kakinada to Uppada, about 1.5 Km from the lighthouse one can see the
seawaters almost touching the road and it is a visual treat to anyone passing
on the road. This road has been washed away by the sea as the sea is gradually
advancing, and an embankment had been laid to stop the encroachment of the road
by the sea.
Beach Park: The Kakinada beach park
has been developed by APTDC near the Vakalapudi Lighthouse. Although a
considerable amount of money was spent on development of the beach from the
Smart city funds and a Lasershow instituted, the equipment is is currently
lying wasted as a cyclone has spoilt the equipment. When the Corona endemic
cropped up, visiting of the beach has completely stopped and the park fell into
disrepair. A considerable effort is now needed to attract visistors to the park
once again.
KAKINADA BEACH PARK.
There is also a Shilparamam near the Lighthouse.
Coring Wildlife Sanctuary: The Coringa Wildlife sanctuary situated about 18 Km from Kakinada is the second largest mangrove forest in India after Sunderbans in West Bengal. It is a bird sanctuary with a wide variety of birds visiting it in winter. There is also the Sea Otter, Golden Jackal, Sea Turtle and Fishing Cat in this sanctuary. This is a mangrove forest formed by the backwaters of the sea. The forest department has laid wooden pathways through the forest for about 3 Km in length. One can travel on the wooden pathway to watch the many trees and birds in the forest areas.
PATHWAY IN KORINGA SANCTUARY.
SRMT Mall: The SRMT mall is a huge Mall with 5 floors and is quite large for
a city like Kakinada and many branded goods stores and eateries have been
established in it. It is spread in an
area of 2.5 acres and has a built up space of 3.75 lakh sft. It has INOX which
contains 4 movie theatres.
Vivekananda Park: The Raja Tank was originally the water supply tank for the city
of Kakinada built by the Pithapuram Raja. Later it lost its utility as a water
supply area because of piped water coming n from the Godavari canal. The tank
was later turned into Park named Vivekananda Park. The smart city program gave
enough funds to the corporation to convert it into an excellent park with all
facilities.
VIVEKANANDA PARK
SUBBAYYA GARI HOTEL.
Subbayya Gari Hotel: Subbayya gari Hotel is very well known for vegetarian food all
over the state. There may be thousands of hotels in the state but this hotel is
unique for unmatched hospitality and taste. The customer is doted on by the
waiters and food is served as though you are the son in law of their family. The
hotel was started in 1955 by Subbaya garu who came from Prakasam District.
Kakinada Kaza: For food lovers the “Kakinada Kaza” is known all over the state and is famous for its unique taste, as is the case with Kakinada madata kaza. Kakinada is also famous for “Pootarekulu” made in Atreyapuram near Kakinada.
KAKINADA KAZA
KAKINADA MADATA KAZA
