‘Kamarajar port has the potential to be an eastern gateway of the country’

The Kamarajar port at Ennore in North Chennai has the potential to be an eastern gateway of the country, said Sunil Paliwal, CMD, Kamarajar Port Ltd (KPL). The port is significantly improving the infrastructure, including roads, he said in a trade meeting.

“It is a bit difficult to reach the port beyond Vallur. However, we are improving the road connectivity and there will be a concrete road being laid at a cost of ₹195 crore till the port. This will be ready by June 2022,” he said at the 7th Trade Meet jointly organised with the Madras Chamber of Commerce of Industry on Friday.

At present, the port has a capacity to handle 54.44 million tonnes (MT) of cargo annually. The port handled 19.67 MT in 2020-21 (till January).

In his presentation, A Karuppiah, Traffic Manager, KPL, said that all internal port roads connecting the terminals have been upgraded to 4-lane concrete roads at a cost of ₹100 crore.

The Southern Port Access Road provides connectivity in to Thiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Pancheti road, which in turn is connected to NH5, NH4 and GST Road. Considering the increase in movement of cargo by road, the KPL has planned to improve the existing two-lane bitumen road from Vallur Junction to the port’s main entrance to four-lane concrete road. The Tamil Nadu Road Development Corporation (TNRDC) is the implementation agency for the project, he said.

The Northern Port Access Road (NPAR) — a length of 21.14 km with 4.35 km spur road — is part of section one of the Chennai Peripheral Ring Road. The State government has accorded administrative sanction for ₹951 crore for land acquisition and ₹2,673 crore for the formation (construction) of the NPAR. The project is being executed by TNRDC, and land acquisition is in final stages, he said.

On initiatives under Ease of Doing Business, Karuppiah said the installation of container scanner is expected by March. The trial run operations were completed with the nominated six Customs officials last year, he said.