The Hindu Business Line : Vizag port turns 75 today; takes up projects worth Rs 3,000 cr

Turning 75: The Deputy Chairman of the Visakhapatnam port, Mr M.S. Rao, addressing a press meet in Visakhapatnam, on Monday on the eve of the Platinum Jubilee of the port. The Director (Research), Ms Y. Jayanthi, is also seen.

Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam, Oct 6 The Visakhapatnam port, which became operational on October 7, 1933, turns 75 on Tuesday and the Visakhapatnam Port Trust is planning to hold a series of events on the occasion of Platinum Jubilee, according to the Deputy Chairman, Mr M.S Rao.

At a press meet here on Monday, on the eve of the Platinum Jubilee, he said the passenger ship, S.S. Jaladurga, arrived at the port on the historic date, but the formal inauguration took place on December 19 of that year by the then Viceroy, Lord. Willingdon.

The port was built at a cost of Rs 3.78 crore, with three berths initially, and since then it had made giant strides, said Mr. Rao. Last year (2007-08), the port handled 64.6 million tonnes of throughput and the target for the current year was fixed at 65 mt. Till Monday, the VPT handled 33.8 mt of cargo during the current financial year as against 31.4 mt during the corresponding period in the previous year.

Future projects

Dwelling on the future of the port, Mr Rao said there was no doubt that the VPT would have a very bright future, notwithstanding competition from the Gangavaram port and other ports, and projects worth Rs 3,000 crore were under implementation to augment the port capacity to 125 mt by 2012.

“The present capacity of the port is 61 mt but we have already exceeded it. By 2012, the projected cargo is 80 mt and we have taken up projects to augment the capacity to 125 mt at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore. Roughly, half of the investment comes from the private sector,” he explained.

Referring to some of the major projects, he said the general cargo berth at the outer harbour was being upgraded to handle 2 lakh DWT vessels, as against 1.5 lakh DWT vessels, and mechanised handling facilities would be installed for coal. The major project would cost Rs 400 crore.

Besides, the conveyor system for handling iron ore was also being upgraded at a cost of Rs 200 crore for which a soft loan was being obtained from the Japan Bank of International Co-operation.

Pollution mitigation measures

Answering a question on pollution, he admitted that some measure of pollution was inevitable as the port was handling coal and iron ore, but all measures were being taken to mitigate it and the port was investing Rs 8 crore on covering the coal stacking yards.

In future, Rs 10 crore would be spent on covering the iron ore conveyor belt. After the installation of mechanised coal handling facilities, pollution would be drastically reduced, he claimed.

New Chairman for port

He said he was officiating as the In-charge Chairman, as Mr K.R. Kishore had left on September 27 on completion of his term. The new chairman is yet to be appointed.

The Director, Ms Y. Jayanthi, explained the history of the port.