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Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH Shri Sarbananda Sonowal unveiled projects worth Rs.231.21 Crore in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. The Minister laid the foundation stone for the Tuticorin SPEEDZ (Coastal Employment Unit) land for development of Port-based Industries, spanning 1300 acres, worth Rs. 100 Crore, laid the foundation stone for inner Harbour development works (Widening the Port Entrance and dredging the widened portion) at a total cost of Rs. 65.53 Crore, inaugurated the Upgraded Coal Yard Road and Drainage System at a cost of Rs.16 Crore, Fixed Fire Fighting System at Oil Jetty at a cost of Rs. 18.79 Crore and Strengthened 22 KV HT Electrical Network at a total Cost of Rs. 1.15 Crore.
Shri Sonowal inaugurated the Smart Port projects, India’s first indigenously developed Vessel Traffic System at the cost of Rs.2.29 Crore. The development of indigenous system would eliminate the need of relying on proprietary and costly foreign made software solutions. He also inaugurated the Optic Fibre connectivity at a cost of Rs.1.15 Crore.
In line with the call given by the Prime Minister towards Net Zero initiatives, the Minister also inaugurated an array of Green Port projects like 100% Conversion into LED Lights, Induction of e-Cars, 140 KW Solar Roof Top Solar Power Plant and laid foundation stone for 2 MW Wind Farm, 400 KW Solar Roof Top Solar Power Plant, Public EV Charging Stations at a total cost of Rs.26.93 Crore.
Shri Sonowal also inaugurated Ease of Doing Business Projects, Drive through Container Scanner and 140 MT Electronic in-motion Weigh Bridge, at a total Cost of Rs. 46.51 Crore.
On the Welfare front, the Minister inaugurated the Medical oxygen Generator plant, and laid the foundation stone for Integrative Medicine & AYUSH Unit and VOC Maritime Heritage Museum at a total cost of Rs.1.78 Crore.
Addressing the gathering Shri Sonowal stated that the Government is taking all efforts to reduce the logistics costs which would facilitate India to achieve its well-defined goal of being a $5 Trillion economy by 2025. He said that the inclusive Green Port initiatives taken by the VOC Port will set standards across all Major Ports to increase the share of renewable energy to more than 60% by 2030.
Shri Sonowal affirmed that Government would take all efforts to transform VOC Port as the Transhipment hub of East coast of India by developing the Outer Harbour Project, as announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi .
The Minister reviewed the performance of the Port and its future expansion programmes. Shri T.K. Ramachandran, Chairman, apprised the various ongoing and future capacity augmentation initiatives of the Port and other proposals for enhancing the productivity of the Port. Shri Sonowal inspected the Port facilities and took stock of the infrastructure and upcoming projects. He interacted with various stakeholders of the Port and Shipping fraternity.