Front Page   

New deep-sea port coming up

CHENNAI: A new deep-sea port will come up on the East Coast under the public private partnership model, Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport, and Highways T.R. Baalu said here on Saturday.

“The exact location of the multi-purpose deep-sea port on the East Coast will shortly be decided by the Union Ministry of Shipping and the modalities of the project are being examined,” the Minister said, inaugurating the phase-I capital dredging works at a cost of Rs.91 crore and construction of road works at a cost of Rs.9 crore at Ennore Port Limited (EPL).

The Minister said two international shipping yards, one on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast, would also come up, for which Expressions of Interest (EOI) had been given to nine global players.

The Union Ministry of Shipping had prepared an action plan for all major and minor ports in the country under the National Maritime Development Policy. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi would soon lay the foundation stone for a Rs.1,300-crore mega container terminal project at Kattupalli, Ennore, to be implemented under the PPP model, he said.

The global bidding process for short-listing and selecting the terminal operator would commence shortly. The 1-km-long berth container terminal, a state-of-the-art facility, would be capable of accommodating three mainline vessels and four feeder vessels.

“The Netherlands Minister of Port, who recently met me in Delhi, has evinced keen interest to associate with the development schemes of the Ennore Port. Experts from Germany and the Netherlands are going to advise us on the future development of the Ennore Port,” Mr. Baalu said.

The Minister said construction work on the Rs.200-crore liquid cargo terminal with 3 Million Tonne Per Annum (MTPA) capacity; a Rs.400-crore common user coal terminal with 8 MTPA capacity and a Rs.480-crore Iron Ore Terminal with 12 MTPA capacity had commenced.

The Union Ministry of Shipping was focussing on upgrading the infrastructure facilities in the ports besides social infrastructure. Concerted efforts taken by officials of his Ministry had yielded results in all allied agencies, including the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), which had posted a profit of Rs.1,015 crore.

“The SCI will soon be acquiring a fleet of 28 ships to further improve its services,” he said.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Highways and Ports M.P. Saminathan said a bridge linking north Chennai with Pazhaverkadu would shortly be constructed at a cost of Rs.9 crore.

Union Shipping Secretary A.P.V.N. Sharma said a high-level task force was closely monitoring infrastructure-related projects.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Human trafficking racket busted
Legislators meet Zardari
85-90 p.c. of voters cast ballots in Tripura
Action sought against tobacco, liquor firms
President: time for crusade against scourge of court arrears
Left will retain power: Manik Sarkar
A useful back button to the future
Missing link in digital home entertainment
Australia keen to retain the edge
New deep-sea port coming up
Corporation removing overhead cables
Community policing from March: Kodiyeri
Yahya had set up business in Dubai with stolen software
Naidu ‘heavier’ than Chief Minister
Backwardness: CM draws flak
Terror suspect to be in CoD custody till March 6
Six insurgents killed
Talks stalled
Two naxals killed
Ship with 25 Indians goes missing in Black Sea

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu