THOOTHUKUDI: VO Chidambaranar Port Authority Chairman TV Ramachandran said the Union government has proposed to implement the outer harbour development project at the port under the Gati Shakti scheme, at a total estimated cost of Rs 7,500 crore.
Addressing reporters, Ramachandran said digging a draft of 18 metres, according to the outer harbour project, will enable the capability of the terminals to handle vessels ranging from 18,000 TEUs (unit of cargo capacity) to 20,000 TEUs, and a capacity augmentation of 4.10 million TEUs. Apart from this, other initiatives proposed under Gati Shakti include development of berths 1, 2, 3, and 4 at an investment of Rs 2455.4 crore, conversion of berths 5 and 6 as bulk terminals at an investment of Rs 254 crore, development of multi-modal logistics park, and commissioning of a desalination plant at an investment of Rs 144 crore, he added.
The Gati Shakti plan also envisages a centralised portal comprising all existing and planned infrastructure initiatives of 16 Union ministries and departments, so as to provide every department a visibility of each other's activities and to share critical data while planning and executing projects, he said. This approach will also help the logistics cost in India to be reduced from around 14 per cent of GDP to less than 10 per cent, he added.
Commissioner of Customs Dinesh K Chakravarthy; Additional Divisional Railway Manager of Southern Railway T Ramesh Babu; Indian Port, Rail & Rope way Corporation Ltd Additional General Manager M Ramesh Babu, Airport Director N Subramanian, were also present.
The outer harbour development project for VOC port was first announced in the Union Budget 2013. The then Shipping Minister GK Vasan released a detailed project report in January 2014, which estimated the project to be implemented in four phases at a total cost of Rs 23,432 crore. Later, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely also announced the project for implementation in the 2014 Union Budget. However, it was put on hold when the then Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan pushed for optimisation of internal harbour facilities at the port, and a transhipment hub at Enayam in Kanniyakumari district.