Bhubaneswar: Odisha is witnessing brisk activities in port sector. While the expansion of two ports, Dhamra and Gopalpur is going on, land acquisition for two more ports are in advanced stages. The government has already acquired 700 acres of land for the Subarnarekha Mouth port promoted by Creative Infrastructure and the land acquisition for the Astarang port promoted by Navyug Engineering Group is going on.
The state commerce and transport minister, Nrusingha Charang Sahoo, told the state assembly on Saturday that the government has notified sites 8 sites in 1997. The sites are Astarang and Baliharchandi in Puri district, Subarnarekha Mouth, Inchudi and Chandipur in Balasore, Chudamani in Bhadrak district and Bahuda Mouth in Ganjam district. Earlier in 1991, the Bahabalpur site in Balasore was notified for minor port. The Jatadhari sites in Jagatsinghpur and the Talasari in Balasore were notified in 2000 and 2009 respectivley. Later in 2017, a site in Mahakalpada block in Kendrapada district was notified for location of a riverine port.
However, 27 years after the Bahabalpur port site was notified, no port is coming up there. Following the signing of MoU with Creative Infrastructure of Chennai in 2008 , the port work at Subarnarekha Mouth is making some progress. The Aditya Birla Group, which had signed an MoU in 2009 to develop a port at Chudamani in Bhadrak district has backed out meanwhile. Navyug Engineering Group has signed an MoU with the state government in 2010 to develop a port at Astaranga in Puri district.
Sahoo was replying to a question by BJP legislator Dilip Ray.
