Rites to give report on land need of ports by May-end

Blueprint on road connectivity to ports soon

Rail India Technical and Economic Services (Rites), the engineering and consultancy arm of Indian Railways, is expected to submit its final report on land assessment for non-major port projects by May-end.

“Rites is going to submit its preliminary report on ‘thumb rule’ for non-major port projects on May 4. We will have an interactive meeting with them on May 10 and by the end of the month, Rites is likely to submit its final report,” said G Mathi Vathanan, secretary (commerce & transport).

The commerce & transport department is in the process of formulating new guidelines for assessment of land requirement of the non-major port projects. These guidelines were to be factored in while allotting land for new port projects and also for expansion of any existing non-major port.

Recently, the department had ruled out immediate allotment of 800 acres land for Dhamra port’s second phase expansion. Dhamra port is jointly promoted by Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T). The department had asked the developers to fulfill some conditions to be eligible for additional land.

The conditions included achieving 70 per cent capacity utilisation in Phase-I and obtaining clearances from Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) for the proposed expansion. Of late, the government had agreed in principle to relax capacity utilisation norms for the Dhamra port keeping in view the curbs on iron ore exports.

The state government had identified 13 locations for development of non-major port projects. Besides Dhamra, the government had signed agreements with Hyderabad-based Navyug Engineering for a minor port at Astaranga in Puri district and Aditya Birla Group owned Essel Mining & Industries Ltd for a captive port at Chudamani in Bhadrak district. Other locations identified for port development include Jatadhari Muhan, Bichitrapur, Palur and Kirtania.

Meanwhile, the state government has asked the developers of non-major ports in Odisha to prepare feasibility reports on four-lane road connectivity to port sites. The feasibility reports are to be submitted to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for vetting.

The cost of road and rail connectivity for non-major port projects will be borne equally by the Union ministry of shipping & highways and the port promoters. Earlier, the Odisha government had submitted a Rs 1200-crore plan to the for offering road and rail connectivity for the upcoming non-major ports.