Bhubaneswar: State Government’s objective of mass employment generation through port-led growth is turning into reality with Dhamara and Gopalpur Ports making headway as large deep ports. Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra today held a meeting with senior officials where the status of development projects at Dhamra and Gopalpur ports were discussed.
Principal Secretary Commerce and Transport Madhusudan Padhi outlined the issues relating to the development of port facilities on the east coast. Bhadrak Collector was directed to protect the land adjoining the ports for the development of industrial hub and townships. IDCO Chairman Sanjay Singh was advised to acquire the land and develop the sites for industrial use in coming years, reports said.
Directions were issued to demarcate the high tide line through ground level re-survey of the coastal regulation zone for the protection of the eco-system while planning for the development.
“With quantitative and qualitative growth of Dhamara port, railway and road connectivity and coming in of the LNG Tank near the port, the area is rapidly heading towards a port town. Master planning of the area and protection of the available land would provide further fillip to the port-led industrial development in the area,” Mahapatra said.
IT Secretary Manoj Mishra said Dhamara port was notified by East Coast Railway in 2011 as a “full rake handling point for both inward and outward traffic”.
In the meanwhile, Dhamara Port Company Ltd (DPCL) has developed three new berths taking the total berths to five. DPCL has also constructed 62.5 kms of rail connectivity from Dhamara to Bhadrakh connecting the main Howrah-Chennai railway line.
Chief Executive officer of DPCL Subrat Tripathy said there has been a manifold increase in cargo handling from Dhamara port within last eleven years. The total export and import cargo handling have increased from 5 MMT in the FY 2011-12 to 29.71 MMT in 2019-20. This year, the port has already handled 29.37 MMT cargo by February 2021.
“The total cargo handling during the current FY is expected to cross 30.5 MMT. The port envisions enhancing its cargo handling capacity to 300 MMT per year in coming years. The port has paid around Rs 612 cr of State revenue over last ten years,” Tripathy added.
Mahapatra also reviewed the progress of Goplapur port on the east coast. The port has resumed its operation in 2015 after necessary repairs and renovation. The port was severely affected by the cyclone Hudhud in the year 2014. It has developed a stockyard of 2,80,000 sq mt. It’s berth No-2 is also being mechanized for easy import and export.
CEO of Gopalpur port appraised that the mechanization of the berth would be completed by March, 2021. Presently, it has two operational railway siding. Construction of railway yard with four operational sidings has been expedited. This would cater to multiple rake handling. Target was fixed to complete this by March, 2021. Gopalpur port is now running on operational profit with annual handling of around 5 MMT cargo.
The issues relating to the widening of road existing road connectivity, additional land required for port expansion, construction airstrip at Dhamara, development of the industrial park, development of economic corridor etc were discussed and resolved in the meeting. These two ports are now providing daily employment to around 4,300 people in port operations apart from their regular employees, sources said.
The port authorities were advised to mobilise port-based industrial houses for developing industrial clusters near the ports. Agriculture Production Commissioner RK Sharma, along with port authorities and senior officials from the State Government attended the meeting.