Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

New chairman for VPT

Ajeya Kallam

VISAKHAPATNAM: Senior IAS officer Ajeya Kallam has taken over as the eleventh Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust.

Mr. Kallam, a 1983 AP cadre officer, assumed the charge on Monday. The post fell vacant following expiry of the five-year term of K. Ratna Kishore sometime ago.

The new Chairman’s previous posting was in the AP Transco as its Chairman and Managing Director. He also held the distinction of serving as the district Collector of Visakhapatnam in early 90s.

Mr. Kallam has assumed the key post at a time when a private port is getting ready for commissioning at Gangavaram with a handling capacity of 35 million tonnes in the first year of operation.

Visakhapatnam Port, which secured the top slot for seven years in a row as the premier port of the country had slipped down to second position during last fiscal with Kandla emerging as the top-runner.

During current year also as per the projections, Kandla would retain its top position.

With a fully automatic handling facilities getting ready at Gangavaram and the State Government exempting it from the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation limits and cancelling the proposal to set up a minor port at Mutyalammapalem to enable Gangavaram port to expand its berthing area in future, Visakhapatnam Port faces a daunting task ahead.

In view of the challenge posed from Gangavaram and the ports at Kakinada, Gopalpur and Paradip, He has to take bold decisions for offering competitive handling charges, augmenting infrastructure and better productivity.

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