Odisha fast tracks ₹4,000 cr port project

The state government in Odisha claimed that the construction of the Subarnarekha port in Balasore involving an investment of ₹4,000 crore is all set to start very shortly. Commerce and Transports Minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu said elaborating that the port will cost around ₹4,000 crore and will be completed in 36 months. The state has already handed over 692.68 acres of land to the port developers as a total of 961.18 acres is required for the port. Since the site is close to the integrated test range of the Defence Ministry at Chandipur in Balasore, the Ministry gave approval for the project on the Subarnarekha river mouth in the Bay of Bengal in June. Chennai-based Creative Port Private Ltd (CPPL) proposes to build an all-weather deep-draft commercial port with an initial capacity of 10 million tons per annum as per the revenue-sharing agreement with the state government the port capacity will be raised to 40 MTPA over 10 years. Tata Steel has signed an agreement with CPPL for 51% equity in the project.