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4,800 acres enough for port
Sobhanadreeswara Rao opposed the government’s proposal to acquire 22,000 acres of land from the people at Machilipatnam in the name of port. He recalled that late Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government had given the port work to Maytas by allotting 6,262 acres of land.
Vijayawada: Former Minister Vadde Sobhanadreeswara Rao here on Saturday said that 4,800 acres of land is enough to build the deep water port at Machilipatnam.
Sobhanadreeswara Rao opposed the government’s proposal to acquire 22,000 acres of land from the people at Machilipatnam in the name of port. He recalled that late Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government had given the port work to Maytas by allotting 6,262 acres of land.
However, with Maytas landing in financial trouble, the work was reassigned to the Navayuga Engineers, who wanted 6,262 acres of land for which the Directorate of Ports and the Indian Ports Association have recommended 4,800 acres depending on the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by the Navayuga,” he added. He reminded that the then Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy had allocated 5,324 acres for the port.
The former Minister said that the Krishna district administration identified 2,300 acres of government land to be given to the port and had proposed acquisition of 2,900 acres under the Land Acquisition Act 2013. Against this background, it was not justifiable for the present government to propose to acquire 22,000 acres of land for the port, he said.
Stating that the Machilipatnam Port with 12.8 meters deep navigation channel and three berths would not handle the 270 million metric tonnes as claimed by the company, he cited the assessment made by the Indian Ports Association which said that the port could handle only 160 million metric tonnes.
He said that the Gangavaram port, which handles 14 million metric tonnes with 5 berths and 21 meters deep navigation channel, was given just 1,800 acres.
Similarly, the Chennai port was built on 500 acres, while Ennore port had come up on 2,000 acres, Tuticorin port has 2,150 acres and Kochin port has 2,000 acres.
Taking these into consideration, the initial proposal of 2,300 acres of land was enough for the Machilipatnam port and the government could give its own land without going for acquisition,” he asserted. He asked the government to review its proposal and give the available 2,300 acres of government land to the contractor to develop the port.
