Dharmendra Seeks Air Connectivity To Paradip

Dharmendra Pradhan

Bhubaneswar: BJP leader and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister has urged the Union Civil Aviation ministry to examine the techno-economic feasibility for setting an airport at Paradip in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district at the earliest.

In a letter to Union Civil Aviation, Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday, Pradhan said Paradip is one of the major ports in Eastern India and last year became one of the three ports in India to have handled a total cargo of over 100 million tonnes. The port is being further expanded and modernized and it is expected that by 2020 it would be able to handle 332 million tonnes of cargo per annum thereby making it the largest port in India. Its location in and proximity to the mineral rich states would only further this cause.

He further said the Centre has declared Paradip Port as a smart port industrial city and Paradip and its vicinity is fast emerging as a major industrial hub in Odisha and Eastern India. Besides having the port, Paradip already has an oil refinery of 15 MMTPA capacity, a 12 MMTPA pellet plant, two Fertilizer plants together of four MMTPA capacity and one edible oil refinery. In addition, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is implementing several big ticket industrial projects including expansion of the oil refinery to 21 MMTPA from 15 MMTPA, a 700 TMT Poly Propylene (PP) Plant by 2018 and a 355 TMT Mono Ethyl Glycol (MEG) unit by 2023-24 which will feed various downstream industries including plastics, paints, rubber and synthetic yarn industries.

“These industries shall spur economic growth and feed the upcoming plastics park,” he pointed out.

Pradhan also informed the minister that a gas pipe-line under Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project is being laid up to Paradip to meet the energy demand. Further, a multi-modal logistics park offering 10 lakh sq ft space for warehousing is being implemented in Paradip under Bharatmala to meet the demands on logistics and warehousing.

Since these initiatives require seamless connectivity, massive expansion of road and rail network such as 8-laning of Chandikhole-Paradip National Highway, construction of Digha-Gopalpur Coastal Highway via Paradip and Haridaspur-Paradip railway line is underway. Further, development of National Inland Waterway-5 is being implemented with an investment of Rs 4190 crore which is expected to be completed by 2023, he observed.

Asserting that Paradip has the potential to become a business and cultural hub for eastern India and provide linkages to South-East Asian nations, Pradhan however, said the grand vision of development of Paradip would remain incomplete without an airport.

Stating that a request to this effect has been made by the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) to the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Pradhan requested the Union minister to intervene in the matter and direct the AAI to conduct a feasibility study for the airport at Paradip at the earliest possible.