Visakha container project gets nod

Visakhapatnam: Decks have been cleared for the Rs 633-crore expansion project of the Visakha Container Terminal Private Limited (VCTPL) with all the hurdles pertaining to the Award of Concession being sanctioned as the Visakhapatnam Port Trust has finally agreed to issue the work order.

According to sources, the project to be executed on a Design Build Finance Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) was conceived in 2012 to enhance the capacity of the existing container terminal to meet the growing business needs. The project will be taken up in the public-private-partnership mode and will be made operational in two years.

An agreement was signed with JM Baxi Group in 2014 in this regard. However, due to delay in certain approvals such as environmental clearance from the Central government and issue of construction of approach road to project site work on the project could not gain much pace.

With the hurdles being cleared now, all is set for the launch of the project which was pending for the past four years.The existing container terminal can handle up to 7 lakh containers per annum, with the enhancement of the capacity it will cross 1 million container capacity.

The expansion project will help the port handle 1.35 million container boxes from the existing 0.7 million. The project works include construction of a berth, erection of higher capacity cranes, handling equipment and reclamation of more than 40 acres.The port is expected to handle more than 4,50,000 containers this fiscal from 3,88,000 containers it handled in the last fiscal.VCTPL is sharing 11.044 per cent of the gross revenue with the VPT as per the agreement.