Navayuga Engineering Company, a Hyderabad-based company, has proposed to construct a Rs 6,000 crore port at Astaranga, a fishing jetty between Paradip and Puri in Orissa.The company would also build a 50-km railway line linking Astaranga with the Howrah-Chennai main line on Khurda Road with an investment of Rs 400 crore on public-private-partnership mode.C V Rao, chairman, Navayuga Engineering Company, discussed the proposal with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday. Jayanarayan Mishra, Orissa minister of state for commerce and transport, said the company would develop the port in the Devi river mouth in three phases on a build- own-operate-share-transfer basis with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in the first phase. The second and third phase of the project will comprise Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore, respectively.Mishra said the company would require 5,000 acre at Astaranga where it has also proposed to set up a 1320 MW (660 x 2) captive power plant besides a fly-ash brick unit and desalination plant separately.
