DPR on Colachel Port at advanced stage :Pon Radhakrishnan

The Detailed Project Report for the setting up Colachel Port in Kanniyakumari was at an advanced stage of preparation, Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan said here today.

Radhakrishnan, who hails from Kanniyakumari district, said the government was also mulling floating a separate Special Purpose Vehicle for the project.

"The DPR is at an advanced stage of preparation,"he said.

In 2016,the Government cleared the proposal to set up the project at Enayam in Kanyakumari at an investment of Rs 25,000 crore.

However following opposition from a section of villagers, the Shipping Ministry identified Colachel to set up a port.

Radhakrishnan was here to take part in the welcoming ceremony of very large cargo carrier M V Blue Diamond at the Chennai Port Trust.

To a query on the status of the Ennore Manali Road Improvement Project, he told reporters that some land needs to be acquired from the Navy, for which discussions were on with the Defence Ministry.

"We need some more land. There is a bottleneck as the land is owned by the Navy. We are in discussions with the Defence Ministry for that", he said.

The Ennore-Manali Road Improvement project, conceived in 1998 at a cost of Rs 600 crore, aims to link four major roads in the suburbs of Chennai.