Buoyed by the decision of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to take stake in the prestigious Machilipatnam port trust, the state government has fast-tracked getting the clearances.
Buoyed by the decision of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) to take stake in the prestigious Machilipatnam port trust, the state government has fast-tracked getting the clearances. Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is reportedly keen to commence the works by February and directed the officials to complete the spadework by then.
In a significant development, PFC has agreed to grant 3,940 crore loan to the project. The state government estimated that it would cost 5,253 crore to complete the port project.
The government would take the burden of 1,313 crore. Interestingly, the government is taking up the major port with its own resources instead of handing it over to the private firms. The decision to take up the ports on its own was taken by the chief minister with an eye on making more revenues in future. The state government has already commenced the works on Ramayapatnam port which is also taken up with its own funds.
Machilipatnam port is going to be the third public sector port to be launched by YSRC government as it had already put the works of Ramayapatnam and Bhavanapudu ports on fast track. “We will start the first phase works of the port in an extent of 1,730 acres of government land and go for acquisition of remaining part in due course,” said former minister and local legislator Perni Venkatramaiah (Nani).
The port could handle cargo vessels with over 80,000 metric tonnes in the first phase and it could handle vessels with nearly 1.5 lakh tonnes in the second phase. Machilipatnam MP V Balasoury, who played key role in getting the financial assistance from PFC, met Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav and requested him to grant environmental clearances to port project. “Union minister Yadav has directed the officials to look into the issues related to the environmental clearances. We are hopeful of achieving them by the end of December,” said Balasowry. He said they were hopeful of clearing all the hurdles by January and go for foundation laying ceremony in February.
State government had scrapped the MoU with Navayuga group soon after YSRC coming to power. Recently, the high court struck down the petitions filed by Navayuga paving way for launch of the works with a new contractor.
Interestingly, Megha Engineering Infrastructure Limited (Meil), which replaced Navayuga in Polavaram, repeated the story in Machilipatnam port.
