The Gujarat and Orissa-bound heavy machinery stranded in five vehicles at the Bandar Port Road would soon be transported with the contractors expected to bring a barge to go ahead with the shipment.
The vehicles were stranded after the attempt by the SK Shipping, belonging to former Zilla Parishad Chairman Kukkala Nageswara Rao, to move the heavy consignment from the jetty at Bandar Port was delayed with the Machilipatnam Port Limited first getting a stay order from the A.P. High Court.
However, the MPL later gave its consent following an assurance over its water front rights and that future shipment would be done after obtaining their permission.
The government gave permission to move the machinery before April 30, but the contractors could not do so.
Now it was expected that the transportation contractors might get the government permission once again and bring a barge soon to the port to move the consignment.
After the arrival of the barge, the five heavy vehicles carrying gas-based turbines and generator sets manufactured by the BHEL, would be cleared from the Bandar Port Road where they were stranded for many months now due to the proceedings of the court case.
The BHEL consignment transportation contract belongs to the Mumbai-based Urmila Projects and Resham Singh and Co. The SK Shipping bagged loading and forwarding contract for this machinery at Bandar Port.
MPL general manager T. Subba Rao told The Hindu that their company gave its consent for movement of the present consignment only after making it clear that any further such shipment in future should be carried out only after obtaining their permission.
Stay order
The MPL got stay order on the machinery movement on the plea that this would lead to the violation of its water front rights in future as well with the users likely to claim it as their right to use the local jetty if they were allowed to do so now.
