Bhubaneswar: Moving a step forward to give a fillip to industrialisation, the state government has decided to develop an industrial hub and township at Dhamra. This was revealed at a high-level review meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra here Friday.
Mahapatra directed the Bhadrak Collector to protect the land adjoining the port for development of industrial hub and township.
Chairman-cum-Managing Director of IDCO, Sanjay Singh, present in the meeting, was advised to acquire the land and develop the sites for industrial use in coming years.
“With quantitative and qualitative growth of Dhamra 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.
The Chief Secretary also directed to do demarcate the high tide line through ground level resurvey of the costal regulation zone for protection of the eco-system while planning for the development.
Commerce and Transport special secretary Manoj Kumar Mishra said Dhamra port was notified by East Coast Railway in 2011 as a full rake handling point for both inward and outward traffic.
In the meanwhile, Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) has developed three new berths, taking the total berths to five. DPCL has also constructed 62.5 km of rail connectivity from Dhamra to Bhadrak connecting the main Howrah-Chennai railway line, chief executive officer of DPCL, Subrat Tripathy, said.
He said cargo handling from Dhamra Port has increased manifold during the last 11 years. The total export and import cargo handling has 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. The total cargo handling during the current FY is expected to cross 30.5 MMT, sources said.
Issues relating to widening of existing roads, additional land required for port expansion, construction airstrip at Dhamra, development of industrial park, development of economic corridor were discussed and resolved in the meeting.
The Gopalpur Port has resumed its operations from 2015 after necessary repairs and renovation. The port was severely affected by cyclone ‘Hudhud’ in 2014. The CEO of Gopalpur Port appraised that the mechanisation of the berth would be completed by March 2021.
Presently, Gopalpur Port has two operational railway sidings. Construction of a railway yard with four operational sidings has been expedited. This would cater to multiple rake handling. Gopalpur Port is now running on operational profit with annual handling of around 5 MMT cargo.
Official sources said these two ports are now providing daily employment to around 4,300 people. The Chief Secretary directed the departments and district administrations concerned to provide all facilities for rapid growth and expansion of the ports.
The port authorities were also advised to mobilise port-based industrial houses for developing industrial clusters near the ports.
PNN