After committing investments on a new six million-tonne-per-annum steel plant, a captive power plant and a coal-to-liquid project in Orissa, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has evinced interest on setting up a captive port in Ganjam district of South Orissa. It involves a capital cost of Rs 1,424 crore. The first phase is scheduled to be operational by 2017. The location is 30 km south of the existing Gopalpur port and 18 km from Berhampur. JSPL recently made a presentation to the state commerce and transport department on the proposed port at the mouth of the Bahuda river, a perennial ore. The port does not require acquisition of farm land and there are no issues involved with nesting of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles in the area. “JSPL is keen on setting up a captive port at Bahuda Muhan. It has made a presentation on traffic requirement and other aspects of the port,” said Gagan Dhal, principal secretary (commerce & transport). The captive port will handle capesize vessels (150,000 or dwt) for coal and coke and Handymax vessels (50,000 dwt) for general cargo. During the first phase, the port will have two dedicated berths for handling coal and limestone and one berth for general cargo. The port is anticipated to handle about 33 million tonnes per annum of coal and other import items. Work on the second phase is set to begin after 2017, when the port will have three more general berths. The multiplier effects of the port include revenue from cargo handling, regional economic development, and employment generation, development of road and rail connectivity and acceleration of local economy as well as that of the state.
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