Kodungallur port revival work soon

Kochi: The ancient port town of Kodungallur, once a thriving trade centre, is now set to revive itself and regain its old glory.

Work on the port will soon begin with the Kerala Ports Department finalizing its master plan for the 60-acre project.

“The State Government has accorded an administrative sanction of Rs 45 cr to construct a cargo wharf in the first phase and we are about to start an environmental impact assessment process’’, said K.R.Vinod, Regional Port officer.

The department has already identified 40 acres of revenue land to set up the project while an additional 20 acres will be reclaimed from the river for construction purposes.

The jetty is already deep enough and is considered ideal for handling containers from Gujarat and Maharashtra and other locations in Kerala.

Meanwhile, official sources said the master plan also had the proposal for a container terminal and a dry dockyard, in addition to a maritime institute.

“Once the project is completed, the movement of cargo between Kochi and Kodungallur will be handled through a water bypass’’, they explained.

The project is being taken up as part of the initiative to transfer about 20 per cent of the state’s freight traffic to coastal sea routes by 2020.