New ports to be built in Andhra Pradesh, Bengal
The Shipping Ministry will establish new major ports in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal as part of a maritime agenda that includes a ramp up of port infrastructure by 2020, Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan said.
Inaugurating a national conclave on shipping hosted by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Vasan said one of the chief aims of the Ministry’s “Maritime Agenda 2010-20’’ was the capacity addition of about 3,200 million tonnes —from the current levels of about 1,000 million tonnes — to handle an expected traffic increase of 2,500 million tonnes by 2020, reported The Hindu.
“During this financial year, the Ministry of Shipping will initiate measures to get Union Cabinet approval for establishing the two ports,” Vasan said.
The ports form part of the set of projects for creation of 244 million tonnes of capacity spread across 42 projects at an estimated cost of US$2.58 billion in 2012-13 under a target set by a recent Prime Ministerial review of the infrastructure sector, he said.
