The recently announced ₹ 11,000-crore road projects, including the tunnelling work between Heggadde and Addahole in the Shiradi Ghat, will help improve road connectivity to New Mangalore Port with other parts of the State and further boost the operations at the port, said Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust A.V. Ramana here on Tuesday.
Addressing presspersons, Mr. Ramana said that the absence of better connectivity with other parts of the State has hampered the growth of the port. Though the port has set a target of handling 68 million tonnes of cargo per annum, it has been handling just above 20 million tonnes of cargo. The trust has been raising the issue of improving road connectivity in its meetings with the Union and State governments.
Mr. Ramana thanked the Union government and Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel for taking up a host of road works in the region. Apart from tunnelling work proposed at a cost of ₹ 10,000 crore, the government has proposed to strengthen the Sampaje Ghat at an estimated cost of ₹ 58.8 crore, the Shiradi Ghat at a cost of ₹ 26.5 core and Charmadi Ghat at an estimated cost of ₹ 19.5 crore. The new bridge to be built at Kulur across the Phalguni at a cost of ₹ 69 crore will bring respite to public and industries in the city, he said.
With the completion of the proposed road works, Mr. Ramana said, NMPT could handle 45 million tonnes traffic by 2025 and 77 million tonnes by 2033.
The port handled 25.53 million tonnes of cargo in this financial year till Tuesday, which was less when compared to the 27.23 million tonnes of cargo handled in the last financial year. The drop in the quantity of cargo was because of drop in crude and petrol, oil and lubricants products. With the closure of thermal power stations in Ballari, there was a drop in coal cargo too, he said. NMPT was ranked fourth in terms of cargo handled among the major ports so far in the current financial year.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Mangaluru unit president Rajendra Kalabhavi also spoke.
