Paradip Port eyes turning into smart industrial city

26 June 2017

The Paradip Port Trust has taken up a host of infrastructure projects to develop the Odisha port as a smart industrial city. With the schemes of the urban development, shipping and the railway ministries having been brought under a common umbrella, the trust has roped in the Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) to market the ambitious plan.

BB Panigrahi, deputy chief engineer of the Paradip Port Trust, says given that Paradip has multi-modal access to both demand and supply centres, it is pushing an initiative to create an industrial park, a multi-modal logistics park, and a residential and commercial area within its limits. It would provide 6,285 acres at competitive rates for the purpose. The multi-modal logistics park would be built within the port area. Its facilities would include a bulk and break cargo terminal, container terminal, warehouses, sorting and grading zone, inter modal transfers and a cold chain.

The multi-modal logistics park is complementary to the port’s Rs 8,500-crore plan for increasing its capacity from the present 127 million tonnes (mt) to 212 mt by 2035. “The port will develop an outer harbour and twelve additional berths,” says Damodar Nayak, former manager traffic who is overseeing the port city’s infrastructure development. Paradip would be made cape size vessel-compliant and is estimated to handle 150 mt of additional cargo from Talcher, IB Valley and ECL mines.

Six-laning of the Paradip Chandikhole road (NH-5A) and development of NW-5 between Talcher and Paradip is underway. At the planning stage are a host of railway projects including the Jakharpura-Haridaspur third line, the Bhadrak-Nergundi third line, Budhapank-Salegaon via Rajatgarh third and fourth lines, Sukinda Road-Jakhapura third line, Rajatgarh-Barang double line, Sambalpur-Talcher double line and Titagarh-Sambalpur double line.

Source-masterbuilder