Bhubaneswar: The construction work for the Subarnarekha Port project in Balasore district will commence from October next, said Commerce and Transport Minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu after chairing a meeting in this regard here Thursday.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sahu said the construction of the commercial port would start from the next month and would be completed within 36 months.
“Land acquisition for the purpose has been completed. Although there are some disputes as some of the locals objected to the work then, the SP and Collector concerned were directed to resolve the issues. The project involves an estimated cost of `4,000 crore,” Sahu said.
Acquisition of 6,092 acre of land for the project has been completed while 700 acre more is required, said the minister adding the land would be acquired soon.
Balasore MP Rabindra Jena, who was also present at the meeting, said the Subarnarekha port would come up at Baliapal in Balasore district for which all sorts of clearances have been issued.
Jena said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would lay the foundation stone for the project very soon. “The shareholders in the creative port like Tata and other companies have taken time till October 15.”
The main reason behind the delay was the case pending in the High Court, the MP stated. Creative Port Private Ltd of Chennai has signed an agreement with the Odisha government in December 2006 to develop the port and Tata Steel has signed an agreement with CPPL to acquire 51 per cent of the equity in the project. The port will have an initial capacity of 10 MTPA which would be increased to 40 MTPA over 10 years.
The Ministry of Defence has initially raised objections to the port project for its proximity to the Integrated Test Range site at Chandipur but later gave clearance for the project.
