Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday urged the Centre to include more Odisha projects in the draft National Perspective Plan (NPP) under the Sagarmela Project for development of the country’s maritime sector.
Participating in the second National Sagarmala Apex Committee meeting held in New Delhi under chairmanship of Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, Patnaik said the Centre has considered only two projects of Odisha for inclusion in the NPP. He urged that the State’s NH and railway connectivity to ports and industrial park proposals, given in the first Sagarmela meeting o in October, be included.
“To start with, the road and rail connectivity projects for Dhamra and Gopalpur ports must be taken up on priority,” he urged.
Patnaik said ports would act as important maritime trade gateways for India.
“Development of port-based coastal economic zones and industrial parks will lead to the growth of competitive port-based industries and ensure sustainable development of the population living in the vicinity of the port,” he pointed out.
Stating that Odisha’s investor-friendly port policy has attracted many developers have come forward for development of ports on PPP mode, Patnaik said the Dhamra Port, while commenced with 25 MT-capacity in Phase-1 in in May, 2011, now proposals are there to enhance the capacity to 109 MTPA with an investment of Rs 10,016 crore.
Besides, the fair weather port at Gopalpur has been converted to all weather direct berthing port and is in operation now, while land acquisition is in the process for the development of Subarnarekha mouth port and Astarang port, he added.
Besides, the Chief Minister also proposed inclusion of four proposals, a riverine port on river Mahanadi, petrochemical cluster at Paradip, steel cluster at Kalinganagar in Jajpur and provision under Coastal Community Development Fund for enhancing socio-economic condition of fishermen population in the coastal districts.