The Ministry of defence is likely to give its nod to two non-major ports in Orissa proposed at Chudamani in Bhadrak district and Inchudi in Balasore district.
The Orissa government is hopeful of getting the go-ahead of the ministry at a crucial meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on Friday.
"All hurdles to the port projects proposed at Chudamani and Inchudi appear to have been cleared. We hope to get the green signal for these two ports at a meeting convened by the defence ministry on Friday”, a top official of the state commerce & transport department told Business Standard.
The ministry, however, is averse to setting up of any port at Chandipur, the site of Indian Army's Integrated Test Range (ITR), he said.
The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) had objected to construction of a port at Chudamani by Essel Mining and Industries Limited, an Aditya Birla Group company, on the ground that the site was close to the missile testing centre at Wheeler Island in Bhadrak district and the ITR at Chandipur in Balasore district.
The state government had, however, argued that port project and the activities of DRDO can go hand in hand.
The Orissa government had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Essel Mining and Industries Ltd on October 22, 2009 for setting up of a port at Chudamani with a projected capacity of 10 million tonnes of cargo traffic per annum by 2012.
Prior to signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Essel Mining Industries, the state government had roped in Indian Institute of Technology- Chennai for conducting a techno-feasibility report on the location.
Besides Chudamani, the defence ministry had also objected to setting up of ports at Bahabalpur, Chandipur and Inchudi. The ministry was of the view that no port should come up between the mouth of Subarnarekha and Dhamara rivers.
