The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has taken up various projects to increase the port’s capacity from the existing 118.50 MMTPA to 325 MMTPA by the year ending 2025, and it would become the country’s highest-capacity port in the country.
The port’s ongoing projects include a multipurpose berth to handle clean cargo including containers on BOT basis at an estimated cost of Rs 430.78 crore to be operational by March 2019 and a deep draft iron ore berth on BOT basis at a cost of Rs 740.19 crore also to be operational by March 2019.
The other projects are mechanisation of EQ-I, EQ-II & EQ-III on BOT basis at a cost of Rs 1,437.67 crore to be operational by December 2019, a deep draft coal berth on BOT basis at a cost of Rs 479.01 crore and a proposal on capacity augmentation under the Sagarmala Project to develop an outer harbour at a cost of Rs 4,179 crore to handle cape-size vessels up to 2 lakh DWT with a draft of 22 metre. This was stated by PPT Chairman Rinkesh Roy while referring to the port’s annual performance report for 2015-16.
The port achieved an all-time cargo record throughput of 76.38 MMT during 2015-16 against the previous year’s traffic of 71.01 MMT exhibiting a a growth of 7.57 per cent. The PPT retained its second position in cargo throughput among all Major Ports consecutively for the last three years.
During 2015-16, the PPT earned Rs 1,173.03 crore against Rs 1,160.46 crore during 2014-15. The net surplus after Income Tax stood at Rs 309.37 crore against Rs 275.57 crore in previous year.
By improving the port efficiency parameters, the port handled 1,561 ships during 2015-16 against 1,476 during the previous year with a reduced berth occupancy of 66 per cent from 77 per cent.
The PPT has declared a facility to handle baby cape-size vessels of 1,20,000 DWT by enhancing the draft to 14.5 metre at three berths.
For environmental measures, the PPT has erected the net barrier for a length of 3 km alongside the perimeter wall to arrest dust. About eight lakh trees have been planted in and around Paradip. Further, 25,000 saplings were planted through the Odisha Forest Development Corporation during 2015-16. Various environmental measures are also in offing during 2016-17 including procurement of mist cannons, truck tyre cleaning system at the gates, deployment of mechanical sweepers and installation of sewerage treatment plant and solar energy plant.
Besides, the PPT is committed to its CSR activities as per the Government of India Guidelines. During 2015-16, it spent Rs 5.50 crore on CSR activities like construction of toilets in the township area including schools and colleges, skill development to local youths through the CIPET for getting employment and promotion of sports and cultural activities, etc.
