Minister for Roads and Buildings B C Janardhan Reddy told the Legislative Council that greenfield ports at Machilipatnam, Ramayapatnam and Mulapeta are nearing completion and are expected to be ready by the end of this year, with operations likely to begin within six to nine months after completion. He gave scheduled completion dates of 24 April for Ramayapatnam, 30 November for Mulapeta and 28 December for Machilipatnam, and said a greenfield commercial port at Kona village in East Godavari is expected by 20 July. The three projects are being built under the engineering, procurement and construction mode and form part of the state effort to strengthen maritime infrastructure. The Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board is providing land and bearing the cost of rail and road connectivity while the National Highways Authority of India is developing road links to NH-16 for the Kakinada SEZ port. The state is also facilitating land acquisition for rail connectivity to integrate the new ports with logistics corridors. Visakhapatnam, the state’s only major port under the Centre, has a capacity of 141.6 million tonnes per annum (mn tpa). Non-major ports operated through the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board under public–private partnerships include Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam and Kakinada Deep Water Port with capacities of 64 mn tpa, 98 mn tpa and 26 mn tpa respectively, while Kakinada Anchorage Port and Ravva Port have capacities of five mn tpa and two mn tpa. The board will support the new ports with land and connectivity to sustain growth. The TDP-led NDA government has set a target to create two mn jobs by 2029 and the youth services and sports minister reported that 628,327 jobs have been created so far. The government recruited 16,350 teachers through the DSC notification and filled about 6,000 police posts while promoting employment through investments, a skill census and skill development programmes. The unemployment allowance scheme is not in force but officials said it was announced earlier as a contingency if the target is not met, and councillors pressed for the allowance during the council session.