Stone laid for 'Break Water Wall' at Gopalpur Port

BERHAMPUR: The Commerce and Transport Minister Sanjib Sahu laid the foundation stone for  a ‘break water wall’ at Gopalpur Port, 18 km from Berhampur city on Thursday. The wall - mandatory for an all-weather port - would be 3 km in length and will cost ` 240 crore.  The fair-weather port of Gopalpur was handed over to Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL Group) by the Odisha Government.  And the port is being developed into an all-weather one by Gopalpur Port Ltd (GPL), a consortium led by OSL Group. It will be the second all-weather port in the State after Paradip. The existing fair-weather port was handed over to GPL in October 2006. According to the CA, GPL will develop the port on BOOST (build, own, operate, share and transfer) basis. After completion, the Port targets to handle 10 million tonne of cargo in the first year of its operation. The consortium is to invest about ` 1,700 crore in the port. Though the construction was scheduled to start last October, it was delayed for various reasons. The port officials informed the Minister that construction works would be completed by 2012-end. Transport Secretary Gagan Dhal accompanied the Minister.

Source: New Indian Express