Central government commits Rs 1 trillion investment at Paradip port

The central government has committed an investment of about Rs 1 trillion over the next five years for the development of various projects at Paradip port. These projects are either at different stages of planning or have already been inaugurated. The inaugurated project is the multi-purpose clean cargo berth. The berth has been developed on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer basis at a cost of Rs 4.31 billion. In addition, the government has laid foundation stones for another six projects at the port. These projects involve development of a liquefied petroleum gas terminal at the south oil jetty; a new coal import berth and a multimodal logistics park; mechanisation of three coal handling berths; providing connectivity to the mechanised coal handling plant and iron ore handling plant; and construction of a second exit road and a flyover from the port. The cumulative cost of these six projects is Rs 32.06 billion. The government also announced the development of a 262 km long waterway, to be developed at a cost of Rs 50 billion, from Karimnagar to Dhamra and Paradip.