Other States - Orissa

Two new ports by 2010

Bhubaneswar: Besides a number of steel plants, Orissa will get two more minor ports along its coastline by 2010, State Commerce Minister Jaynarayan Mishra has said.

The two minor ports would be at Gopalpur in Ganjam district and at Dhamra in Bhadrak district. The first phase of construction of the the Gopalpur port had already been completed, while work was on at the Dhamra port, he told the Assembly on Friday.

Dhamra Port Company Limited -- a joint venture of L&T and TISCO -- had already started working on its project. An agreement was signed with Gopalpur port limited for the purpose.

Both ports were being developed on the build-operate-transfer basis which would come under the state’s ownership after the lease period, he said.

“The estimated project cost of Dhamra port is Rs 2,464 crores while Gopalpur port has been developed at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore,” Mishra said, adding another port at Kirtania in the mouth of Subernarekha river was in the pipeline.

Mishra also said both Dhamra and Gopalpur ports would share their income with the state government. While Dhamara port would share five per cent of its income with the state government for the first five years, the Gopalpur port would follow suit from the second year of its execution.

The state has planned a total of 13 ports along its 480 km long coastline and the government had signed MoUs with three companies for setting them up, he added. PTI

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