Visakhapatnam: Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday ruled out disinvestment of public sector undertaking Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL). The minister visited the DCIL and interacted with the employees and union leaders in Vizag and said that he had gone through the files of the company and found there was no proposal of strategic sale of DCIL.
The DCIL would continue as a PSU in Vizag city and would serve the interests of ports, Navy and the country as a whole, he assured. During the review meeting in the company, the minister was briefed on various activities taken up by DCIL in the dredging, land reclamation, beach nourishment, recent international dredging contracts bagged and the CSR activities. DCIL CMD Rajesh Tripathi informed that the company caters to the maintenance and dredging requirements of all major ports and added that they were also getting works on tender basis, both national and international, like that from Mongla Port, Bangladesh.
He stated that the experience and caliber of the employees and assets of the company are sufficient to cater to all the maintenance and dredging requirements of the country’s major ports. The minister said DCIL is the only PSU dredging company of strategic importance and appreciated the commitment of the senior management and the employees in the performance and growth of the company.
Earlier, the minister, while witnessing the beach nourishment activity carried out by DCIL Dredge-17, near the Kurusura Subamrine Museum, interacted with the top officials of DCIL and VPT regarding the operational details of dredging being carried out. During the review of national highway projects, the minister stated that the long pending demand of Viziana-garam bypass has been fulfilled and the work of four-laning of Vizianagaram bypass with concrete road at a cost of Rs 430 crore has also been sanctioned.
The minister said this current financial year, the ministry of road transport and highways has sanctioned 14 major projects costing Rs 4,500 crore. On the national highways, under the corridor approach and NHDP scheme, in Andhra Pradesh, Vizag area grid separator at convent junction on Vizag Old Road is being developed at a cost of Rs 60 crore. Out of this, Rs 30 crore will be funded under Sagarmala project, Rs 15 crore by NHAI and Rs 15 core by VPT, he added.
The minister also stated that the six-laning of Anakapalle-Anandapuram express highway, which provides connectivity to Visakhapatnam Port with service road on both sides, will also be done at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Bids for the project have been called and the construction will start in 4- 5 months.
