Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam port, given its 7.5 per cent increase in cargo transport growth, will be transformed into a landlord port by the end of 2023, Union minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal announced at the valedictory session of the Global Investors Summit on Saturday.
The ‘landlord port’ status allows a port authority to act as a developer of port facilities and regulate the activities of both public and private operators.
Sonowal said that while six projects worth Rs 658 crore awarded in January 2023 were in operation at the port, six more projects, worth Rs 1,250 crore are in the pipeline. These would increase the port’s capacity by 37 million tonnes per annum, he said.
The minister said that the fishing harbour at Visakhapatnam port was being upgraded, at Rs 151 crore, to improve the quality of life of local fishermen. He also highlighted the ongoing works of an international terminal, at Rs 97 crore, which is likely to get operational by April.
“The Visakhapatnam port is one of the important ports in ancient India, as it is having a rich history of trade and commerce of over 1,000 years of international trade with western Asia and even up to Rome,” Sonowal said.
Citing the launch of works worth Rs 10,000 crore launched by Prime Minister Modi for Visakhapatnam, the minister said that the Visakhapatnam port continues to remain a focal point of trade for the country.
“The PM Gati Sakthi programme helped develop infrastructure at a fast pace and helped reduce cost of projects,” he said.
Sonowal said that multimodal transport will be the future of logistics and called for Andhra Pradesh to race for development with increased momentum.
He said that under PM’s initiative of Sagaramala, over 110 projects worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore were identified for implementation in Andhra Pradesh and of them, 35 projects of Rs 32,000 crore were completed, while 14 projects worth Rs 2,500 crore will be supported.
