Odisha government to sign MoU with Paradip Port Trust for development of riverine port
BHUBANESWAR: The state government would soon sign a MoU with the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) for development of a riverine port on river Mahanadi at Akhadasali village under Mahakalapada block in Kendrapada district.
As directed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, a high-level team of the state government led by chief secretary Asit Tripathy on Sunday visited the proposed site on a vessel to take stock of the situation on the ground. 5T secretary V K Pandian, special secretary of state commerce and transport department Manoj Mishra and PPT chairman Rinkesh Roy were part of the team.
“The Union ministry of port, shipping and waterways has agreed to a proposal of the state government to develop the riverine port by the PPT. A formal MoU with the state government is under finalization and it will be signed soon,” said a senior government officer.
The all-weather port will be set up with a capacity of 54 MTPA will be developed in phases with an investment of Rs 4,062 crore. In the first phase, 22 MTPA capacity will be developed by investing Rs 2,562 crore.
As per discussion, the PPT will develop supporting project infrastructures like rail and road connectivity and dredging requirements of the port while the state government will provide around 300 hectares of land for the project and also facilitate necessary support for implementation of the port project.
On commissioning, the riverine port will provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to more than 4000 persons in the first phase and about another 1700 in the second phase.
The riverine port will be connected NH-53 and Haridaspur-Paradip railway line for transportation of cargo.
“Though the state government has given go ahead to the project in 2018, the project could not make substantial progress due to lack of lack of potential developers. As suggested by the state government, the PPT then evinced interest in the project. The riverine port has a great potential to fuel port-led industrialization in the region,” said the official.
After the Haridaspur-Paradip railway line, the riverine port is the second major industrial infrastructure project in the region.
The port has been planned to cater to the needs of mineral transportation from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. It will be a common user port for various industries and mining exporters in these states. The port is expected to handle iron ore and pellets, raw fertilizer, alumina, raw crude oil, finished crude oil, steel and steel products, chromite and bauxite produced in the state, said official sources.