Goemkarponn Desk
MORMUGAO: Mormugao Port Authority ( MPA ) Chairman Venkata Ramana Akkaraju on Friday said that the port had plans to privatise the berths no 9,10 and 11 to stress more on green cargo and improve the financial health of the port. Akkaraju also assured that the main thrust of the MPA will always be to provide more employment opportunities to locals
” Goa was a mono-cargo port where iron ore would be handled but because of various state and central government policies ,there were restrictions and we had to depend on other cargo for survival. We have to think out of box to improve financial health of Goa port and we have projects in the pipeline that includes better mechanisation at berth no 9,10 and 11 to increase the efficiency and lower the environment issues. Finally even if we plan privatisation of beth no 9,10 and 11, our thrust will be to give more employment opportunities to locals because the more infrastructure that we create and the more cargo that we handle ,the higher will be the opportunity to create employment for locals . We are also prepared to handle the iron ore cargo in case the mining activity resumes in the state ”
Akkaraju re assured that there was no scope of pollution at coal handling units in the port
” We have said this and these are only apprehensions . We are using unloaders, sprinklers and other equipment of global standards and there are pollution control monitoring equipments and the feed is given to various authorities who can check the readings. We are thrusting more on green cargo at berths no 9, 10 and 11 of which berth no 10 and 11 are for container cargo and even iron ore can be handled at outer anchorage. We are also trying to expedite the highway works after which transportation costs will reduce and goods will get competitive in the international market and industries will increase leading to a rise in employment opportunities, per capita income and boost in economy ” Said Akkaraju
” As of now Pharma companies have direct connectivity from JNPT port Mumbai where mother vessels come whereas in Goa we have feeder container vessels only which will either go to Mumbai,Cochin or Sri Lanka increasing the transportation cost. We don’t have a proper facilty and only one harbour crane and we are now trying to zero down and find a solution and privatise berth no 10 and 11 for container cargo . Once we have two cranes , we can expect people to prefer Goa only ” said Akkaraju
