The union cabinet has approved a shipping ministry proposal to set up new major ports in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh at an investment of about Rs 15,820 crore. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), has cleared the proposal for setting up a major port at Sagar Island in West Bengal. The port with a capacity of 54 MTPA will entail an investment of around Rs 7,820 crore. The existing port facilities at Kolkata and Haldia are facing severe draught limitations and space constraints. The deep draught port at Sagar Island would be able to handle large-sized vessels.

The location for a new port in Andhra Pradesh has not been finalised. The state government has identified three locations – Nakkapalli in Visakhapatnam, Ramayyapatnam in Prakasam and Dugarajapatnam in Nellore to develop the port which will have 50 MTPA capacity and will be set up at an outlay of about Rs 8,000 crore,

The new ports will be notified as Major Ports under the Indian Ports Act, 1908 and be developed on public-private partnership mode. There are at present 12 Major ports — Kolkata-Halida, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Ennore, Chennai, V O Chidambaranar, Kochi, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, JNPT and Kandla.


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