VISAKHAPATNAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for four major projects of Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) worth Rs 1,288 crore from New Delhi during the prestigious Global Maritime India Summit (GMIS) held in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The Visakhapatnam Port has taken up mechanisation activities through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The port is mechanising the activities at four berths, including EQ-7, WQ-6, WQ-7 and WQ-8. This involves an investment of Rs 655 crore. The Prime Minister inaugurated these projects virtually.He also inaugurated the phase-2 extension of Visakha Container Terminal on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis. The total cost of the project is Rs 633 crore.
The laying of the foundation and the dedication of these projects were conducted on the premises of Visakha Container Terminal Private Limited. Officials of the Visakha port authority and employees of the privately-owned Visakha container terminal participated in large numbers.
Meanwhile, the VPA signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth over Rs 1,400 crore at the GMIS, in the presence of Union Minister of ports Sharabananda Sonowal. The VPA exchanged an MoU with NHAI, by which the latter will develop the existing four-lane road to a six-lane road from Convent junction to Sheela Nagar.
For the project, the VPA will be spending nearly Rs 500 crore. Another MoU was signed between VPA and Trion Properties Pvt. Ltd.M Angamuthu, chairperson of VPA, and Rajneesh Mahajan, director of Trion Properties, signed the MoU. As per the agreement, with an investment of Rs 900 crore, convention centres, IT towers and hospitality will be developed.
Another pact was signed with the Indian Navy that would pave the way for the latter to develop the outer to outer harbour.Angamuthu and Durgesh Kumar Dubey, deputy chairman of VPA, exchanged the MoU with Rear Admiral Nelson D’ Souza, CSO(tech), ENC and M.K.Wathore, zonal officer (West Zone), National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML).