Chennai: The port project at Colachel, which is close to the international shipping route and has sufficient draft for establishing a container hub to handle large ships close to the shore, will take off soon.
Thanks to state government initiative, dredging and preliminary studies to set up the port, has been taken up. Concerned over the poor state of port infrastructure and the congestion at the Chennai Port, which is hurting exporters and other industrial units depending upon port here, the state government expedited the project.
Its initial attempts to secure financial support from the Centre to develop the Colachel port along with Cuddalore and Nagapattinam and also take up development at Ennore and Tuticorin ports has not been met with much success.
Recently, giving the nod for the Colachel harbour project in Kanyakumari district chief minister J. Jayalalithaa had sanctioned Rs 87.75 crore. Following recommendations of the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, a breakwater on the East, 540-metre long, and a similar facility on west running to a length of 230- metre would be constructed.
According to sources, at present supervision of ferry service is undertaken in Kanyakumari while smaller vessels are used for piloting through the Pamban pass at Pamban Port. Cuddalore and Nagapattinam Ports are riverine ports where ships anchor in the midstream and cargo is loaded and unloaded through barges.
The development of the Colachel Port would largely benefit the state. The earlier attempts to initiate the project in the past could not materialise. Progress is being made following the chief minister's commitment towards developing the port infrastructure across the state, say sources.
