Machilipatnam Port works to begin by Jan-end

PNS | Vijayawada

Machilipatnam MLA and former minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) has announced that the prestigious Machilipatnam (Bandar) Port works will commence by end of January or the first week of February.

He made it clear that there would be no foundation stone-laying function because the people of Machilipatnam did not believe in it.“Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will be inaugurating the construction works directly,” he said.  

Addressing media persons at the R&B Guest House in Machilipatnam on Wednesday, Perni Nani talked about the Machilipatnam Port construction and how the State government was taking the initiative.

“The State government has signed an agreement with Megha Engineering Constructions and handed over the port construction work order,” he said.The MLA said that after obtaining environmental clearance from the Central government, the port works would gain momentum. The previous environmental clearance expired in 2017 and no one took care of it. After the YSRCP came to power, the file was moved to the Central government, he said.

“We expect that the environmental clearance will be obtained soon. Once it is received, the first phase works on the Machilipatnam Port will begin. They will be completed within 30 months,” Nani added.

He further said that the State government had estimated the cost of the port construction for the first phase at Rs. 5,235.48 crore. The Power Finance Corporation has given consent to sanction a loan of Rs.3,940.42 crore, which is 75 per cent of the total estimated cost, he said. The State government will be spending the remaining 25 per cent, which is Rs.1,313.47 crore.

Nani said that in the first phase of the port construction, four berths would be constructed. A sum of Rs.548.19 crore would be spent for the construction of two general cargo berths, and one multipurpose berth. Also, one bulk cargo berth would be constructed at Rs.158.08 crore. “Once the Machilipatnam Port Phase -1 becomes functional, it will have the capacity to handle 80 tonnes of ships,” he said.

He said there was a need to construct two breakwater walls of 2.32 km in the sea on the north and south sides. The wall on the north side would be constructed spending Rs.10.94 crore and that on the south side, spending Rs.435 crore.

Also, he said Rs.1,242.88 crore would be spent for dredging to excavate 4.6 crore cubic metres of mud in the sea and Rs.706.26 crore, for the construction of the approach channel for ships. Similarly, for berth pockets and turning circle constructions, the State government proposed to spend 452.27 crore, he said.

No need for private land acquisition On land acquisition, he said that the first phase port construction works would be done on the government lands and 1,730 acres was available in Machilipatnam. He made it clear that not even a single acre of private land would be acquired.

In addition to this, Rs.300 crore would be required for the acquisition of 200 to 300 acres for three Road over Bridges (ROB) and another Rs.180 would be required for the construction works, he added. The State government is ready to bear these expenses, he added.

“The three proposed ROBs will come up at Pothepalli-Pothireddypally, Beach Road and the Railway Track. The Vijayawada-Machilipatnam national highway will be developed as a six-lane road. The NHAI authorities have given the orders to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR),” he said.

Machilipatnam Mayor Moka Venkateswaramma, Deputy Mayor T Kavitha Thomas Noble, MUDA Chairperson B Naga Durga Bhavani, former municipal chairman Salar Dada and others were present.