By IANS,
Chennai : Three new terminals – for coal, iron ore and cars – went on stream at Ennore Port here Friday.
Speaking at the function, union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan, stressed the need for further expansion of the Indian port sector to keep in line with the economic growth.
He said: “The coal and iron ore terminals have been developed through private participation on built operate and transfer basis while the car terminal was developed by Ennore Port itself.”
The eight million tonne per annum (mtpa) coal terminal involved an outlay of Rs.399.13 crore and the 6 mtpa iron ore terminal was built at an investment of Rs.360 crore. In the second phase the capacity of the iron ore terminal will be doubled.
He said the Rs.110 crore car terminal was built by Ennore Port.
The car terminal will be used by Nissan Motor to ship out its models made at its plant near here.
According to him, with the inauguration of the three new facilities the total handling capacity of the Indian port sector has increased over 1,011 mtpa.
The Chairman cum Managing Director of Ennore Port, S. Velumani, said the port would focus on expanding its capacity further.
Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly, Consul General of Japan Kazuo Minagawa, and chairmen of all major ports were present at the function.
Speaking at the function, union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran stressed the importance of adding capacity by Indian ports and hoped the goals of Maritime Agenda would be realised as envisaged.
The Maritime Agenda which was released early this month intends to develop the Indian Ports Capacity to 3,200 million tonnes by 2020.