The upgraded coal berth in the outer harbour at Visakhapatnam port, designed to handle 200,000 dwt (deadweight tonnage) vessels, is ready for commissioning anytime now, according to port chairman Ajeya Kallam.

He said in an interview that the project in the outer harbour was awarded to a consortium headed by Sterlite Industries Ltd, of the Vedanta group, with Leighton Welspun a partner.

“It is a major project which will not only substantially increase the capacity of the port but also reduce pollution to the minimum as well. Three ship unloaders have been installed as part of the project and the unloading capacity will be 70,000 tonnes a day ,” he said. The project can handle 10 million tonnes each year.

Kallam said many of the projects had been awarded to companies on a public-private partnership basis and “from now on, one project will be getting ready almost every three months.”

At present, he said, the total investment in different projects in execution at the port would be more than Rs 3,000 crore and the capacity of the port would go up to 110-115 million tonnes after their completion, probably by 2014.

Deepening of five of the existing berths in the inner harbour had been completed and two new 50-tonne tugs were received from the Hindustan Shipyard Ltd recently. With the ongoing projects, more than 85 per cent of the cargo-handling would be mechanised.

Dredging in the inner harbour had not yet been awarded as the security clearance is awaited.

Till the end of August, the Visakhapatnam port handled 25 million tonnes of cargo during the current financial year.

> sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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