Union Minister for Shipping G.K. Vasan has promised support to revive disused ports and jetties in Andhra Pradesh and sanction additional manpower to the city centre of Indian Maritime University (IMU).
The promise was made by him to Minister for Infrastructure, Investment and Ports Ganta Srinivasa Rao at a meeting of Maritime States Development Council held at Mumbai on Wednesday.
Earlier, Mr. Rao sought funds to the National Waterway 4 and to revive the disused ports and jetties in AP.
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The Union Minister also promised to sanction the new major port-cum-shipyard proposed by the State government in the public sector at Ramayyapatnam in Prakasam district at the earliest. Mr. Rao, who represented AP, told the meeting that a non-major port was under development at Machilipatnam with investment of Rs.5,075 crore. This non-major port would be as big as a major port.
Bhavanapadu and Kalingapatnam were the two more non-major ports on the anvil and would take shape to be operational in two years. “We have plans to encourage private captive ports/jetties and a study is also in progress to identify the potential areas. Meghavaram, Nakkapalli, Kakinada SEZs are among the identified locations and these captive ports/jetties will be operational by 2015,” he said.