The Mangaluru chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has stressed the need to improve connectivity to New Mangalore Port from the hinterland.

Addressing press-persons in Mangaluru, Jeevan Saldanha, Chairman of Mangaluru chapter of CII, said that connectivity to New Mangalore Port is very important as there is a diversion of cargo from the hinterland to Tuticorin and Chennai ports.

Stating that New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) has one of the fastest turnaround times for vessels among major ports, he said, cargo movement is affected by the bottleneck of the Shiradi ghat stretch on the National Highway.

He welcomed the announcement by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, that a fresh DPR for the tunnel project through the Shiradi ghats is ready and that tenders are called for with land acquisition to likely be commenced soon.

He said the IISc report envisages six tunnels with a length of 12.6 km and a bridge of 1.5 km. “We need a rail link through the tunnel for both goods and passenger movement,” he said, adding: “We need connectivity to Bengaluru in three hours. This is possible as the Vande Bharat train (has) speed (of) 180 km per hour. This will improve the traffic movement to NMPT.”

Earlier, K Prakash Rao, former chairman of CII-Mangaluru, gave an overview of the activities taken up by CII in the past one year.

Sandeep Singh, Chairman of CII-Karnataka, who presided over the annual day celebration of the Mangaluru chapter, said the Mangaluru chapter has close to 50 members now. The objective is to take the number to 100 in the next one year, he added.

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