The Odisha government will take a call on establishment of a port by Jindal Infrastructure Ltd, a JSW Group company, at Bichitrapur in Balasore district after completion of an ongoing techno-economic feasibility study (TEFS).
"The TEFS is going on for the port project proposed at Bichitrapur. If we get a positive report, we will go ahead with port development", said commerce & transport minister Subrat Tarai.
A captive deep-sea port proposed at Bichitrapur in Balasore district by Jindal Infrastructure Ltd had run into rough weather with concerns deepening over the threat posed to the nearby Subarnarekha river mouth.
The fact that another commercial port is proposed by Creative Port Development Ltd at Kirtania located within 10-km radius of Bichitrapur, has cast doubts over the feasibility of building two ports in close proximity.
The Bichitrapur port had not made any headway after JSW Infrastructure announced to invest Rs 2238-crore there, targeting cargo throughput of 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa) in the first phase.
The company was to invest Rs 550 crore in the first phase which was scheduled for commissioning by 2013. The port's cargo handling was projected to reach 20 mtpa in the second phase set to be operational by 2013 and 45 mtpa by 2020.
On the Kirtania project, Tarai said, the government had signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Creative Port Development Ltd for developing a minor port there on December 18, 2006. The concession agreement for the port was signed on January 11, 2008. "We have already acquired 670 acres for the port project and efforts are on to hand over the acquired land to the developer", he said.
The project needs 1215.43 acres of land for the port area and 1565.93 acres for the rail corridor. Out of 1215.43 acres of land needed for the port area, 158 acres constitute Gochar land, 193 acres Bhudan land, 138 acres of encroached land and the remaining 724 acres being free land.
Besides the major port at Paradip, the state government had identified 13 potential sites along the 480 km Odisha coast to develop non-major ports.
