Virtual maritime summit to focus on investment in AP

Visakhapatnam: A special session on investment opportunities in port-led development in Andhra Pradesh will be the highlight of this year's Maritime India Summit being held in virtual mode by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways from March 2 to 4. Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), AP Economic Development Board, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, private ports and terminals and others will put up digital pavilions. "We are making efforts to sign MoUs worth Rs 45,000 crore," VPT Chairman K Ramamohan Rao said.

He told Bizz Buzz that the proposals include allotment of 110 acres to HPCL Visakh Refinery for capacity augmentation at a cost of Rs 26,264 crore, development of free trade warehousing, a joint venture in an area of 103 acres with Sagarmala Corporation, multi-modal logistics park by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) near Visakhapatnam International Airport in an area of 150 acres.

There are also proposals to sign MoU for development of a cruise terminal with an investment of little over Rs100 crore. He said the port at present had 7,000 to 8,000 hectares and some of it was involved in legal battles. "Wherever possible, subject to clearances, we are trying to put them into maximum usage to mop up our resources," he said.

Rao, who held a review meeting with senior officials including Dredging Corporation of India Ltd Managing Director Rajesh Tripathy, VPT Deputy Chairman Durgesh Kumar Dubey and other senior officials, said DCIL was also exploring signing MoUs worth Rs18,000 crore. The proposals included purchasing a new dredger worth Rs700 crore to Rs 800 crore with Cochin Shipyard and modernisation of existing fleet as well as signing maintenance dredging contracts with Deendayal (Kandla), Kolkata and Haldia, Paradeep and other ports. Rao, who is also the Chairman for DCIL said the company had a good name in maintenance dredging and it needs to upgrade its fleet to penetrate into the market. Releasing the logo of Maritime India Summit, he told reporters that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the summit. He said AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was expected to participate in the special session on Andhra Pradesh.

The summit would deliberate on themes such as development of port infrastructure, shipbuilding, recycling and repair, hinterland connectivity, inland water transport, bulk cargo transportation, port-led industrialisation, green technologies, skill development and maritime financing.

About 20,000 delegates from 42 countries are expected to participate in the summit. The main speakers include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Roadways Mansukh Mandaviya. The foreign dignitaries include Kamolsak Promprayoon from Port Authority of Thailand, Ki-chan Nam from Busan Port Authority, Jose Firmo from Port of Acu (Brazil), Vincent Desaedeleer from Port Zeebrugge (Belgium), Sanjay Sharma from ArcelorMittal, Bhushan Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Shipping will participate.

The summit brochure was released recently. Interested can visit the website www.maritimeindiasummit.in for details. Visakhapatnam Port Trust has also appointed nodal officers K Kanaka Raju, Deputy Personnel Officer (Ph. 8499977323) and Joint Director K. Rajendra Kumar (9948883272) for any information on the summit.