Paradip Port to auction land for industrial port city in July.

The Paradip Port Trust hopes to auction land for the proposed smart industrial port city project in July, a senior PPT official said recently.

“Expressions of Interest (EoI) have been floated and the last date for submission is May 20 for both the port city and multi-modal logistics hub. We hope to auction the land in July,” Paradip Port Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer (DyCME) and team leader for the project, B B Panigrahi told PTI.

Under the Sagarmala project, a smart port city is proposed at Paradip.

The port has earmarked 250 acres of land for industrial port city and 350 acres for the multi-modal logistics hub, Panigrahi said on the sidelines of a roadshow organised by CII.

Some 22 companies including Ultratech Cement and Deepak Fertilizer have shown an interest in the smart industrial port city.

While six companies have evinced an interest in the multi-modal logistics hub, the Port will look at prospects of port usage by the companies seeking land.

“If a company is seeking land here and does not have an active plan to use the port, then we are not interested in offering land to them,” Panigrahi said.

Simultaneously, to support the industry with port capacity, Paradip has embarked on an investment of Rs. 8,500 crore in PPP to double its capacity from 127 mt by 2035.

“We have decided to build 12 new outer berths in two phases that would facilitate capesize vessels (large dry cargo ships) coming to Paradip Port and the total cost will be Rs. 8,500 crore,” Panigrahi said.

HBL