Astaranga Port is a deep-water, all-weather port proposed to be constructed at Astaranga in

Puri district Puri district is a coastal district of the Odisha state of India. It has one Administrative subdivision, sub-division, 11 Tehsils, tahasils and 11 Block (country subdivision), blocks and comprises 1722 revenue villages. Puri is the only Nagar ...

in the Indian state of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

Background

For over 40 years there was only one major port in Odisha, at Paradip with less major Gopalpur Port and

Dhamra Port The Dhamra Port is a port in Bhadrak district, Odisha, India, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal about seven kilometres from Dhamra town. The agreement to develop the port was signed in April 1998. The Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) was forme ...

. That picture has changed dramatically in the past few years. Based on a study by

IIT Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...

, the Government of Odisha had identified 13 locations along the state's 480 kilometres (300 mi) coast line as suitable for setting up of ports. Thereafter, in order to facilitate the setting up of new ports with participation of private parties the state government had formulated in 2004 a separate port policy. Apart from the Dhamra port, which is set to be operational by mid-2010, progress has been achieved in setting up two other ports – Subarnarekha Port at

Balasore Balasore, also known as Baleswar, is a city in the state of Odisha, about from the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Balasore district and the largest city as well as heal ...

Astaranga port in

Puri Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...

. After implementation of these projects, Odisha is expected to become the vital exit point for not only the state, but other land-locked states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.

Port Development

Hyderabad-based Navayuga Engineering Co. will construct the Rs. 6 billion port at Astaranga. The company will implement the port project near the Devi River in three phases on a build- own-operate-share-transfer basis, with an investment of Rs. 1.50 billion in the first phase. The second and third phase of the project will comprise Rs. 2 billion and Rs. 2.50 billion, respectively. Astaranga is one of the four new ports being set up on the Odisha coast. Nineteen sites for ports have been identified on the Odisha coast. Navayug Engineering Company Limited submitted techno-feasibility report with the State government for setting up port at Astaranga in Puri district. It approached

East Coast Railway The East Coast Railway (abbreviated as ECoR) is one of the 19 railway zones of Indian Railways. It came into existence on 01-April-2003. It headquarters are located at . History Consequent upon the parliament's approval, East Coast Railway wa ...

to extend the project a rail link. The Odisha government has relaxed a vital clause in its MoU with the Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL) enabling the latter to sign a concession agreement with it for developing an all weather port at Astaranga.

References

Proposed ports in India Ports and harbours of Odisha Transport in Puri {{India-transport-stub