Despite suffering a slump in the first quarter of this fiscal, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust has flagged a number of development projects in this year. The projects have been designed to make VPT more competitive and gain an upper hand in handling bulk cargoes, in the port sector.
The Chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, K. Rama Mohana Rao, told The Hindu that in the first quarter of this fiscal the overall handling has dropped to 15.33 million tonnes from 17.10 mt, during the corresponding period of the previous year, mainly due to the sluggish market owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The exports have gone up marginally, but the imports have seen a dip. But we are going ahead with all our projects,” he said.
Explaining about the upcoming projects, he said the techno-economic feasibility report has been completed for mechanisation of three berths. “We have identified WQ7, WQ8 and EQ7, for mechanisation. This is necessary, if we have to compete with private ports and even major ports such as Paradip,” he said.
Once all clearances are obtained, tenders will be called for mechanisation on DBOT (design, build, operate and transfer) basis. The overall project cost is estimated to be between ₹420 and ₹450 crore.
According to Mr. Rao, mechanisation will not only facilitate quick turnover of cargo, but will also reduce pollution. “We will have conveyors and they will be capable of handling variety of cargoes,” he said.
Terminal extension
The ongoing extension of the existing container terminal on PPP mode will be ready by March 2021 at an estimated cost of ₹633 crore, with a capacity of 5.4 lakh containers per annum. Accordingly, we are now planning to build a truck parking facility, he said.
About 30 acres near the VPT’s solar plant area will also be given on DBOT basis for development. “The truck parking will have all amenities from a food court to a service centre and will be able to accommodate over 800 vehicles at a time. This will also bring down the traffic congestion,” said Mr. Rao.
The additional oil handling facilities in the inner harbour will be completed by March 2022 with an investment of ₹168 crore, facilitating an additional capacity of 5.25 million tonne.
Two HMCs (Harbour Mobile Cranes) of 100 tonne capacity each in the inner harbour would be installed by December. “We are doing well in iron ore despite the pandemic impact and that is why we have already created five new railway sidings,” he said.
Staff hit by COVID-19
So far about 13 employees have died and about 175 affected by coronavirus. “We have sanctioned posts for doctors and staff nurses for our VPT Golden Jubilee Hospital and also are procuring a few ventilators,” said Mr. Rama Mohana Rao.