New Delhi: Union minister for road transport and shipping Nitin Gadkari Thursday said surplus coal mined in Orissa can now be supplied to power plants in western states like Gujarat and Maharashtra.
“If we can transport surplus coals from Orissa (through Paradip port) via sea route to western parts of the country like Maharashtra and Gujarat for their power plants, we can save `10,000 crore per year and due to this power tariffs in Gujarat and Maharashtra is likely to come down by 50-60 paise per unit,” he told Orissa POST.
The minister was referring to the ambitious Sagarmala project which mulls using sea routes to transport raw materials and other commodities from surplus states to different parts of the country by connecting major and minor ports.
He also said the Centre is planning to reduce the dependency of state’s steel industry on imported lime. “The demand for lime for the steel industry in Orissa is currently being fulfilled through imports from Dubai. We have now planned to develop better rail and road network to bring lime from Rajasthan till Kandla port in Gujarat’s Kutch region and from there we can supply lime to Paradip port which will help a lot in boosting Orissa’s economy.”
While claiming that Paradip port possesses the greatest potential in the country, he said “It can become the biggest port of the world. We are working on a rail line between Paradip and Talchar. There have been some bottlenecks while ferrying coal between these two places and we are working on it.”
On the question of exploring tourism potential through water ways and sea routes, he said, “We have been planning construction of passenger terminals and to develop cruise tourism for this purpose.”
The minister revealed the information during the Economic Editors Conference in New Delhi where he was giving a report card on the latest initiatives of his ministry and answering questions from senior journalists.
Manish Kumar
Post News Network
