Posted on December 13, 2016
By Rajesh B. Nair, The Hindu
The operationalisation of the old port here will gather pace next week with the commencement of work to excavate three lakh cubic metres of sand from the Ariankuppam River mouth.
A hi-tech dredger of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), a public sector undertaking, has reached the fishing harbour at Uppalam on December 4 and would start the dredging work in a few days time, a senior official with the Port Department told The Hindu.
The cabinet on July 5 had decided to rope in Chennai Port Trust as a partner to develop the port for handling 0.3 million tonne cargo per annum. As per the plan, containers from the Chennai port would be brought here in small barges and subsequently transport the consignments to inland destinations.
According to the official, before commencement of cargo movement to the port, the Ariankuppam River mouth had to be made free of sand.
The Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, while at the construction of fishing harbour, had advised the authorities to excavate four lakh cubic metres of sand annually.
“We have stopped dredging activities from 2005. In the last few years, the port department used to deploy its dredger to excavate one lakh cubic metres of sand annually. However, for bigger vessels to berth at the port, we have to remove at least 3 lakh cubic metres,” said the official.
Developing the beach
The dredger owned by DCI has a capacity to remove 500 cubic metres of sand per hour in a radius of 2 km. The excavated sand would be deposited behind the Gandhi Statue as part of the beach nourishment programme.
The DCI would commence work once they get possession of pipes that would be used to ferry the excavated sand from the river mouth to the Gandhi Statue. The Port Department had set aside a sum of Rs. 14.81 crore to carry out the dredging work.
Funds awaited
However, the government was awaiting funds from the Union Government to improve the infrastructure, including construction of warehouses, before commencement of operation.
The territorial administration had requested the Union Shipping Ministry to allot a sum of Rs. 25 crore to develop infrastructure at the port.
Source: The Hindu
