The closure of Sterlite Copper smelter unit in Thoothukudi has resulted in a revenue loss of ₹1,400 crore to the Department of Customs, its Commissioner Diwakar has said.
Addressing a meet on ‘Speedy sanction of IGST refunds to exporters and successful implementation of containerised digital exchange’ here on Friday, Mr. Diwakar said the Thoothukudi branch of the Customs Department garnered a whopping revenue of ₹4,400 crore during 2017 – 2018 including Sterlite Copper’s ₹1,400 crore paid towards customs duty for the copper concentrate ore it had imported during the period.
As the manufacturing unit has been closed down (following the public protest), import of copper concentrate has come to a grinding halt denying revenue. Hence, the customs revenue for this fiscal would be around ₹3,400 crore only, Mr. Diwakar said.
Maintenance dredging
Thoothukudi VOC Port vice-chairman N. Vaiyapuri said maintenance dredging in Phase I would commence from October 18 onwards to increase the existing 14-meter draught to 15.50 meter to handle fully laden Panamax-size vessels with the draught up to 14.50 meter.
The exercise, which was taken up with increasing trend of container cargo traffic in the port and demand for facility to handle mainline container vessels carrying up to 9,500 containers, would be completed within 60 days.
Considering the growing demand for handling bigger size container with 16-meter draught and to attract trans-shipment traffic, the port has proposed to increase the depth of the inner harbour to 16.70 meters and the approach channel to 18 meters. In addition, it has been decided to increase the width of the entrance channel from the existing 153 meters to 230 meters. The Phase –II dredging would be completed by June 2021.
Ministry of Shipping has directed VOC Port Trust to develop Coastal Employment Unit (CEU) under ‘Sagarmala’ Programme with an objective to create port-based industries and to generate employment in the region.
VOCPT has appointed a consultant with a scope to prepare a master plan to identify prospective industries and to attract investment to a tune of minimum ₹500 crore by leasing port land. The consultant has identified net available area 244.58 acres of port land in Phase I for development of CEU.
The consultant’s report states that many industries like auto components, food processing, apparels and non-metallic mineral processing have shown keen interest. Also, the consultant has indicated the approximate price of ₹30 lakh per acre for 99 years lease for undeveloped land as upfront premium and ₹70 lakh per acre for the developed land. As per the initial response shown by various industries, the proposed CEU is expected to generate 11,000 direct employment and 20,000 indirect employment, the vice-chairman said.
Mr. Vaiyapuri informed that permission would be granted to private tour operators if they wanted to operate ferries from Thoothukudi to Rameswaram and Kanniyakumari.
