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Our Bureau

Plans capacity expansion

Panaji , April 19

Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) handled a record traffic throughput of 31.69 million tonnes, registering a growth of 3 per cent for the year 2005-06.

The MPT Chairman, Mr Praveen Agarwal, saidon Tuesday that the port, which handles over 35 per cent of the country's iron ore exports, witnessed an increase in general cargo traffic to reach 5.02 million tonnes as against the previous year's 4.48 million tonnes. Iron ore exports were 25.31 mt (24.72 mt).

The port earned an operating income of Rs 218 crore (Rs 215.65 crore). The net surplus would be around Rs 44.26 crore (Rs 22.65 crore).

Enhancing capacity

Mr Agarwal said the port, with a rated capacity of 28.5 million tonnes, was completely stretched to its capacity and needed to augmentthe capacity to 56 million tonnes by 2012.

He also disclosed plans for various investment projects being mooted on a "public-private partnership" basis, such as wagon handling system, modification to its mechanical ore handling plant, deepening of the approach channels, construction of two more berths at Vasco Bay, construction of off-shore base, having a transshipper for iron ore export, etc.

The projects were in various stages of implementation, he added.

Regarding port connectivity, Mr Agarwal said he regretted that the lingering 5 km stretch of the 18.30 km four-lane road connecting port to Verna (industrial estate) junction was a handicap to many of its development projects.

Pollution check

Elaborating on the MPT's continued efforts to contain the environmental pollution caused by handling of coal, he said that as a long-term measure, the port users have formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the name of Mormugao Port Users' Association to provide and operate pollution control systems which involves a sizeable investment.

The association has appointed an environmental agency Bhagwati Ana Lab Ltd, Hyderabad, for monitoring the AAQ for 365 days and 24 hours daily in coal handling areas and to follow pollution control measures in coordination with the Goa State Pollution Control Board. The MPT handles around 3 million tonnes of imported coal.

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