Paradip to be developed as world class smart port city

The Shipping Ministry on Friday said that it is planning to develop Paradip as a world class, global competitive and smart industrial port city.

The rationale behind developing Paradip as a smart city is that it already has a major port and strong mineral resource presence in the region, these factors will make Paradip a hub for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

"The on-going Sagarmala programme and the expansion plan of the outer harbour will only increase the port traffic. The smart city at Paradip will be built on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis and it will have Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs), Industrial Parks, Residential and Commercial areas, water management system, waste recycling centre, creek development programme for tourism," said a statement from the ministry.

The proposed smart city will spread across 6,727.17 acres, out of which 1,652 acres will dedicated to residential area, where as 1,950 acres and 3,115.17 acres will be dedicated to industrial area and custom bound area respectively.

"The greening and road beautification works worth Rs 6 crores are already underway. The smart city will also have a solar energy park of 20 MW spread over 90 acres of land. 10 MW of this is proposed to be completed by March 2017 and the rest is to be completed by December, 2017. The total cost of the proposed Solar Power project is approximately 160 crores," said the statement.

The proposed smart city will also have dedicated drinking water supply lines and a very efficient drainage system. The road network will have dedicated lines for township and port.

The slum area which is currently scattered across 155 acres will be rehabilitated through the Pradhanmantri Awaas Yojana.

--IANS

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