A 650-seater auditorium is being built by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust and the existing Port Kalavani auditorium will be totally revamped.
The Kalavani Auditorium at the Port Sports Complex would be closed for six months from September for a total revamp at an estimated cost of Rs. 6 crore, Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu said. It was planned to be closed from June but was rescheduled to be closed from September, he told Visakha North MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju who called on him recently.
The plans for the revamp were approved and tenders would be called and finalised soon so that the work can start on it at the earliest, the port Chairman said in response to a request made by the MLA for repairs to the facilities at the auditorium.
A new 650-seater auditorium is being set up at the port lands opposite the Port Jubilee Hospital, an art complex is also coming up in the area, the port Chairman said. The project would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 18 crore, Mr. Krishna Babu said.
Art complex
The VPT had proposed to establish an art complex which would include a gallery for exhibition apart from facilities to conduct art workshops and place for artists to meet, discuss and work. The port Chairman had sought the help of professor of Andhra University Fine Arts Department Ravi Shankar Patnaik to help design a facility suitable and convenient for the artists.
The VPT would be establishing them as part of its social responsibility as a citizen of the city as its employee profile had undergone a sea change. Today the port has 14,000 pensioners against only 6,000 employees. Once SEW completes its work in a couple of months and starts operating its berth the manual labour requirement at the port would also come down drastically, he pointed out.
