RITES has submitted a feasibility report on constructing a major port at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh and the follow-up steps will be taken soon, according to R.S. Kahlon, Chairman of Kolkata Port who is also in charge of Visakhapatnam port.
He was speaking here on Monday evening at a function organised by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust on the occasion of Visakhapatnam port entering the eighth decade.
The port started functioning from October 7, 1933. He said the Visakhapatnam Port Trust would have a stake in the Dugarajapatmam being built at an estimated cost of Rs 9,600 crore. The Government of Andhra Pradesh would have a minimum equity of 11 per cent and it might go up to 26 per cent. The VPT and other public sector undertakings would have the rest of the equity. A special purpose vehicle would be floated for constructing the port.
He said it was one of the two major ports approved by the Union Government recently, the other being Sagar in West Bengal. He exhorted the Visakhapatnam port employees to strive hard and regain the past glory of the port. In the first decade of the century, he said, Visakhapatnam stood first in the country in cargo-handling for seven consecutive years and the port should regain that position.
Kahlon said several projects were under progress in the port under the PPP mode to achieve the capacity of 100 million tonnes and exceed it. About Rs 13,000-14,000 crore would be invested on the VPT projects to create capacity of 150 million tonnes by 2020, according to the national maritime agenda.
Visakhapatnam Port Deputy Chairman, G.V.L. Satya Kumar, narrated the history of Visakhapatnam port from a level of handling 1.3 lakh tonnes in the first year of its operation in 1933 with only three berths to 68 million tonnes during 2012-13 with 24 berths.