The upgradation of the seasonal port at Gopalpur into an all-weather port has hit a roadblock due to sluggish pace of acquisition of land needed for expansion.
The port expansion that is being implemented at a cost of Rs 1700 crore needs 783 acres.
The state government on Friday assured to provide the necessary land for expansion of the Gopalpur port being developed by a special purpose vehicle called Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL).
While around 393.67 acres have already been handed over to GPL, the remaining 130 acres are expected to be acquired soon to meet the expansion plan, sources said.
“We will provide the required land to GPL very soon for its expansion”, said state’s transport and commerce minister Sanjib Sahu after reviewing the progress of the port work at Chhatrapur in south Odisha's Ganjam district.
“Alienation of the government land in favour of the commerce and transport department for handover to GPL has been delayed due to some technical problems. We hope the process will be completed very soon to pave way for the construction of the port”, the minister said.
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GPL aimed to start its commercial operations from March 2013. The expansion involves construction of three new berths- one each for coal and iron ore with the third being a multipurpose berth. The port also aimed to receive vessels up to capacity of 125,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage).
Initially, GPL was jointly promoted by three partners- Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL), SIL (Sara International Limited and Hong Kong based Noble Group. Later, Noble Group pulled out of the consortium.
Several other companies have shown interest to join GPL to promote the port project, claimed Charchit Mishra, one of the directors of OSL. GPL had signed a loan agreement with a consortium of 11 banks for a total amount of Rs 846.78 crore, while Rs 900-crore is estimated to be invested in the Phase-II.
Company sources said, the financial closure was achieved for the port project on April 30, 2010, whereas environment clearance was obtained on March 30, last year. The construction work has commenced from November 1 last year.
“We hope the commercial operations will start in the scheduled period in 2013”, Mishra said.