The Union Minister of Shipping, G K Vasan laid the foundation stones for new PPP projects at berths No.13,15,16 and IFFCO jetty at Kandla Port and dedicated the newly installed Mobile Harbour cranes today. He also inspected the ongoing trial run of the Vessel Traffic Management System for Gulf of Kutch centre at Kandla.
He later reviewed the performance of Kandla Port with the officers and met various stakeholders of the port and discussed the issues requiring attention of the Central Government for further growth of the Port and the Port city. He stated that the Government is fully aware of the issues of Kandla Port and that the proposals of developmental activities are being pursued with concerned Ministries. He sought full co-operation and support of all concerned to realize the huge potential of the port.
He expressed satisfaction that the Port is going to become 100 MMTPA Port in near future after implementing the projects in hand. The Port has big plans for Road, Rail connectivity and Storage besides augmenting of infrastructural facilities like berths and cranes.
Construction of Berths Nos. 13, 15 and 16, for which the foundation stones were laid, are to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs. 544 crore. These berths have a handling capacity of 6 million tonnes per annum. The barge jetty, of IFFCO Kisan Bazar & Logistic Ltd, will also be of 2 million tonnes capacity with the estimated cost being Rs 27 crore. The Rs 28.32 crore mobile harbour cranes is of 63-tonne capacity with handling capacity of 2.4 million metric tons per annum.