The Paradip port has been consistently maintaining second position for the last four years in terms of traffic handled amongst all major ports, claimed PPT chairman Rinkesh Roy while unfurling the national flag here on Tuesday.
He said the PPT has witnessed 15 per cent growth in terms of cargo handling this year with coking coal, POl and iron ore traffic showing a robust growth. The average berth-day output is the highest amongst all ports, he said.
A record quantity of 8.86 MMT of cargo handled in May 2017 surpassing the previous record of 8.34 MMT handled in March 2017. An all time record of eight rakes un-loaded at IOHP in a single day on May 1, 2017) surpassing the previous record of seven rakes un-loaded on June 23, 2016.
Similarly, the Port registered an all time record loading of 52,500 MMT iron ore pellet in MV AlYASAT-II at IOB within 24 hours in the this month, he said.
Regarding plans, Roy said capacity addition projects of Rs 15,000 crore over the next 10 years and plans to make Paradip a Smart Industrial Port City at an estimated cost of Rs 2,770 crore are already afoot.
He informed that the PPT Hospital would be re-developed in JV model soon. The JV partner would be free to treat outsiders on commercial rates. EOI for JV partner would be floated by October 2017, he said.
Regarding CSR activities, he said literacy programmes, sanitation and public health, drinking water, street lighting, family welfare, promotion of sports and culture, maintenance of roads/sewage system, expenditure for schools and college and other peripheral development works are being undertaken by the PPT.
As many as 60 unemployed youth of undivided Cuttack district are being through the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering Technology (CIPET). Free cataract operations have been conducted for poor persons at the PPT hospital, he said.
Roy unveiled “Paradip Port News” and awarded prizes to winner students of various competitions.
Similarly, Paradip ladies Club president Subhalaxmi Roy unveiled “Deepa Jyoti”, a quarterly magazine of Paradip Sakshyarata Samity (PSS) and gave away raincoats to PSS members. She also donated water filters to the BPl families of the Jagannath Colony.
Thereafter, a poets’ meet, a football match and an inter-school dance programmes were conducted.