Mormugao Port container berth project delayed

The delay in completing work on a 5.2 km stretch of road has indefinitely held back a cruise-cum-container berth project at the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) in Panaji.

"MPT has to deal with severe infrastructure constraints in terms of road and rail connectivity. For instance, the 5.2 km of road linkage has been hanging fire for the last five years," said MPT Chairman Pravin Agarwal.

Addressing MPT's annual press conference, he said cruise passenger companies are evincing keen interest in Goa.

"Star cruises are operating in Goa twice a week and have shown interest in operating thrice-a-week from next year. A United Kingdom-based company has asked permission for operations as they intend to make Goa their base while 'Queen Mary II', which operate in Mediterranean region, will call on Goa in March 2007," Agarwal added.

Despite such inquiries, MPT officials felt that having terminal exclusively for cruise operations was not finanicially viable and have decided to club it with container making it cruise-cum-container berth.

"The proposed berth will be 500 metres long with 11 metres depth. The project will be undertaken on public-private-participation initiative," he said.