The first consignment of natural river sand imported from Malaysia by the State government arrived at the Kamarajar Port in Chennai early on Sunday. M.V. Aurelia, the vessel that transported the 56,750-metric tonne consignment imported by the Public Works Department (PWD), has been berthed at the Chettinad International Bulk Terminal at the port.
At 1.20 a.m., the vessel came to the port and the unloading began at about 4.30 a.m. The port authorities have given about 1.5 acres of land to store the river sand. Since the terminal has a new state-of-the-art unloading equipment to handle multi-cargoes, the imported river sand could be unloaded within two days.
To be tested for quality
According to PWD officials, the sand imported from Malaysia would take a minimum 10 days to be available for sale.
Online booking would begin by month-end and delivery would begin in October first week.
The PWD also plans to deliver sand directly to the doorsteps of consumers in and around Chennai.
This would be done on a pilot basis and would be expanded to other areas depending on the response, officials said. The PWD is likely to charge ₹10,500 per unit of imported sand.
The sand would also be tested for quality before sale. The officials expect the imported consignment to ease the acute shortage of sand in and around Chennai. The PWD recently allowed online booking for imported sand offloaded at the Thoothukudi port.
One unit comprising 4.5 metric tonnes is being sold for ₹9,990.
