Gadkari commits Rs 1-trillion investments for Paradip Port's expansion

Minister says 50,000 jobs will be created, assures Rs 2.5 trillion will be invested in Odisha by ministries held by him

Union minister for shipping Nitin Gadkari has announced an investment of Rs one trillion for the expansion of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) in the next five years.

“In future expansion of the port, about Rs one lakh crore (Rs one trillion) will be invested and about 50,000 job opportunities will be created. Our effort is to make Paradip the number one port in the country,” the Union minister said at Paradip. He was on a day-long visit to Odisha for unveiling various central government projects.

However, he did not give the break-up of the investments proposed.

“Today itself, we have planned about Rs one lakh crore investment for Paradip port which is in different stages of planning or inaugurated. Another Rs one lakh crore investment will be made in the next five years”, he added.

The port is set to close this financial year by handling 110 million tonnes of cargo and earn revenue of Rs 1,750 crore with Rs 750 crore profit. The major port has set a target to handle 157 million tonnes of cargo by 2022.

The Union minister today assured that about Rs 2.5 trillion will be invested in the state by the ministries held by him. Gadkari also heads the ministry of road transport & highways and water resources.

Projects worth Rs 13,000 crore of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and PPT was unveiled by the Union minister in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

IOCL’s project included 680,000-tonne capacity polypropylene plant built at a cost of Rs 3,150 crore, a monoethylene glycol (MEG) plant at a cost of Rs 5,654 crore and a 600,000-tonne-per-annum LPG import terminal. The terminal is built at a cost of Rs 690 crore.

Similarly, a multipurpose berth to handle clean cargo with an annual capacity of five million tonne of the port built at cost of Rs 431 crore was inaugurated today. Besides, foundation stones were laid for about Rs 3206 crore of projects.

A pact was also signed between PPT, IOCL and Airports Authority of India (AAI) for development of a small airport at Paradip with an estimated cost of about Rs 200 crore.

Earlier in the day, Gadkari attended the ground-breaking ceremony for three national highway projects worth Rs 2,345 crore at Dhenkanal.