Chennai: The work to construct a 260 metre long and 18 m wide coastal terminal which can accommodate two coastal ships and favour the growth of coastal cargo has been taken up under the Sagarmala project at the Chennai port here. The project is expected to be completed by March next year.
In addition to this Coastal Terminal coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore at the northern sheltering arm north of the East Quay, the Ministry of Shipping has taken up the development of Common Railway Yard inside the Port and development of paved Storage Yards at Chennai Port for handling export cargoes, under the Sagarmala project, which aims to transform the existing ports into world-class facilities integrating ports with industrial clusters and the hinterland by developing an efficient multi-modal system of transport to drive economic activities in the coastal areas.
The cost of cargo transport will significantly decline through the development of coastal and inland shipping, besides, reducing the carbon footprint.
While the Common Railway Yard is being developed with an additional rail line through the IPRCL (an SPV formed between Major Ports and RVNL), RITES are the PMC consultant for executing the work, which is scheduled to be completed by May this year.
The Paved Storage Yards to be completed by January 2018 is being developed as open multipurpose storage yards for tacking clean cargoes at ONB (Old Navy Barracks) yard in about 86,000 Sq m and transit storage and other inner harbour berths.
Meanwhile, the Techno Economic Feasibility Report for establishing a satellite port at Sirkazhi has been prepared.
It has been proposed to develop this Satellite Port at an estimated cost of '3,000 crore with a capacity of 20 MTPA Development of Coal Port as a JV with Tamil Nadu Maritime Board (TNMB). The port has a potential to handle about 35 MTPA of thermal coal to serve private power producers. The project will be taken up after detailed examination of its feasibility.
