The Centre will develop Visakhapatnam, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh, into a regional container transhipment hub, Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu said on Monday.
On a request by the Ministry of Shipping, the port submitted a detailed action plan listing the bottlenecks which needed resolving.
The issues include relaxation of Cabotage law to allow movement of cargo from one domestic port to another in foreign merchant vessels, route rationalisation and construction of dedicated freight corridor between Visakhapatnam and New Delhi via Raipur.
Mr. Krishna Babu told reporters here that as part of transhipment hub plan, feeder services to Haldia, Kolkata, Chittagong in Bangladesh and ports in Myanmar would be developed.
He said because of its strategic location, the city was better placed than other ports to attract cargo even from distant places. Efforts were on to attract mainland vessels to Visakhapatnam Port.
Stating that Visakhapatnam and Ennore would be developed into important nodes among five mooted under Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) with support from Asian Development Bank, he said a committee comprising Union Ministers for Shipping, Railways and Environment and Forests had been set up to monitor progress on various mega projects. Ports of Visakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam, Kakinada and Gangavaram would be developed in various ways to attract cargo to the region.
A new study had been conducted by KPMG after Price Waterhouse Coopers was commissioned to submit a report as part of concept study on Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor.
Warehousing hub
Mr. Krishna Babu disclosed that the State Government had decided to establish a warehousing hub near Anakapalle for which 500 acres had been identified.
He said he had held discussions with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on developing warehousing hub on the lines of one at Bhiwandi near Mumbai.
CONCOR and other agencies were developing multi-modal logistic hubs in Visakhapatnam.
As part of route rationalisation, railway line was being doubled between Vizianagaram and Raipur, Titlagarh-Raipur and Titlagarh and Sambalpur sectors, he said.
