PARADIP:Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday inaugurated the southern oil jetty at Paradip Port here. Set up at a cost of Rs 222 crore, the 361-mt jetty would meet the requirements of oil refinery project of IOCL.
He asked the officials of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) to prepare concrete plans with data on land availability for development of the Paradip Port. He said development of the port will help it achieve international operation standard like Singapore.
“The Government is committed to develop major ports of the country. So, we have asked all the ports to come up with project proposals to augment their capacity,” he said. Cargo can be loaded to as many as 212 vessels from the southern oil jetty every year. Besides, the jetty would enable Paradip Oil Refinery to import crude oil and export products.
While addressing a public meeting later in the day, Gadkari said the Union Government has decided to set up a medical college in Paradip and a super-speciality hospital within the Paradip Port for its workers. Stating that the State Government should provide the required land for the purpose, he asked the PPT to prepare a master plan for the super-speciality hospital.
The Union Minister further said steps should be taken not to release effluents and polluted water of the city into the sea. He also spoke about the progress of inland waterway linking Kalinga Nagar industrial complex and Talcher with Paradip and Dhamra ports.
Speaking on the occasion, PPT Chairman (in-charge) MT Krishna Babu said a target has been set to handle traffic of 100 million tonnes by 2018. PPT achieved an all-time high traffic of 71.01 million tonnes during 2014-15 against the previous year’s 68 million tonnes, exhibiting a growth of 4.42 per cent year-on-year, he added.
Earlier in the day, Gadkari reviewed the development works being undertaken in PPT and interacted with trade union leaders.