The government is considering shifting bulk cargo handling of air pollutants, dust, coal, minerals and other pollutants through Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) to Moolapet Port in a phased manner – Minister BC Janardhana Reddy
Raja Pentapati - AP Bureau ChiefAmaravati July 21st, Bharat Digital News
. National News
(Five-star rated news service by Google)
In line with Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s vision to develop Visakhapatnam as a hub for world-class IT services and IT investments, the state government is taking key steps to make the city a clean, pollution-free and environment-friendly city, Investment & Infrastructure Minister BC Janardhan Reddy said.
In this context, the minister revealed that the government is positively considering the issue of shifting the bulk cargo handling of coal, minerals and other pollutants that cause dust spread, currently handled by the Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA), to the nearby Moolapet port in a phased manner. The minister expressed happiness that these steps will help the Moolapet greenfield port to operate commercially successfully in cargo handling from the first day of its operations.
He said that the implementation of this decision will reduce the current cargo handling pressure on Visakhapatnam Port, improve the turnaround time of ships and reduce the additional financial burden on shipping companies. At the same time, he expressed hope that air pollution in Visakhapatnam city will decrease, the quality of life of the people will improve further, and industrial development will take place locally.
As part of this proposal, the Minister said that the Visakhapatnam Port Authority has proposed to provide 49-50% equity participation in the Moolapet Port Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). It also wants to allocate 2 berths in the first phase and 2 berths in the second phase through the nomination/RoFR process. The Minister explained that the VPA has also proposed to determine the fair value of the salt lands to be transferred to the SPV.
The Minister said that the Government will examine the proposals submitted by the Visakhapatnam Port Authority in detail, formulate the modalities of the partnership and submit mutually acceptable recommendations to the Government… The Minister said that the Committee of Ministers (GoM) already formed on issues related to Ramayapatnam Port, headed by Ministers Payyavula Keshav, BC Janardhan Reddy and Kandula Durgesh, will also examine this issue.
The Special Chief Secretary, Investment & Infrastructure Department and the Principal Secretary, Finance Department will fully cooperate with the Group of Ministers and provide support on necessary technical and administrative aspects and for the formulation of the final recommendations, Minister BC Janardhan Reddy said.
Swacha Andhra Pradesh
