The State government should release Karnataka Maritime Policy shortly, Gaurav Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Infrastructure Development, Ports and Inland Water Transport said on July 14.
Speaking virtually from Bengaluru during the inaugural session of the first edition of Karnataka Ports Conference – 2023 organised by the Karnataka chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here he said: “Karnataka Maritime Policy has been formulated with a vision to develop the ports sector and that should be released very shortly.”
Speaking of the Karnataka Maritime Board, he said that 26 maritime improvement projects have been sanctioned to the State under the Sagarmala programme of the Union government. The government intends to develop Keni and Belikeri ports in Uttara Kannada to increase their handling capacity by another 30 million tonnes per annum.
The theme of the conference was ‘Ports – Backbone of Indian Economy and Atmanirbhar Bharat.’
Employment opportunities
Underlining the importance of ports Venkata Ramana Akkaraju, Chairman, New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) said that the customs department earned ₹5,190 crores of annual revenue from NMPA alone. The NMPA created employment opportunities, both direct and indirect, to 10,000 people. Of them, 3,500 persons are contract employees of the port while 350 persons are regular employees. Others are indirect beneficiaries of port activities.
Referring to cruise tourism, he said the port is handing cruise vessels at negligible cost and eight cruise vessels called at the port in the last cruise season. The amount spent by the tourists who go on land tour after embarking from the ship contributes to the local economy.
“The port will increase the number of immigration windows from 24 to 70. We are planning for a dedicated cruise gate so that the cruise passengers will have a better experience,” he said.
Handling of iron ore transported through rakes
The chairman said that the port would handle iron ore from this financial year. “We have taken a conscious decision of not handling iron ore transported (to the port) by road in view of environmental issues. Iron ore transported only through rakes will be handled. It will reduce the environmental issues and damage to roads.”
“The services of a trans-shipper will be availed to load the iron ore from the port in barges and further load it to the ships anchored at the outer anchorage. It is to mitigate the pollution at the port,” he said. The chairman said a berth would be dedicated to handle cooking gas at the port.
The Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada M.P. Mullai Muhilan said a new industrial area would be developed on 1,000 acres near Mulky.
Vijaykrishnan Venkatesan, Chairman, CII Karnataka State Council and Managing Director, Kennametal India Ltd., Praveen Kumar Kalbhavi, Chairman, CII Mangaluru chapter and CEO and Managing Director, Novigo Solutions Inc spoke at the event.
