Paradip Port awaits twin projects

In its newest scheme of thing, the Union government has decided to build Paradip as a smart port and smart city at an investment of Rs.40,000 crore, said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari elaborating that this is a part of the Centre's plan to bring about a speedy development across Odisha. He further added that on the one hand road network is being expanded in the state and on the other, Paradip will be made a smart port and to start with, Rs.2,700 crore would be provided for the ambitious project and an additional amount of Rs.2,000 crore would be spent to increase the depth of Paradip port to enable it to handle a variety of vessels and cargo. Plans are also afoot to construct a railway line between Paradip and the coal town of Talcher at an investment of Rs.9,000 crore. The coal production capacity of Talcher coal belt would also be raised up to 300 million tons. Apart from these, around Rs.1 lakh crore is being invested in Paradip region for different petroleum and petro-chemical projects.