VPT banks on new projects to claim green port status.

In its bid to remove the dirty tag attached to it, Visakhapatnam Port Trust which launched its commercial operations way back in 1933, is getting ready for capacity augmentation and addition by undertaking work on three pending projects after receiving formal clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The VPT is going ahead with the setting up of a 10 MW solar power plant near the Visakhapatnam International Airport at a cost of Rs.57 crore as part of its green initiative.

“We have made all the arrangements and are all set to take up work on a fast-track mode on three projects,” VPT Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu told The Hindu . The port would take up work keeping in view the concerns raised by the people in the neighbourhood over pollution.

The projects envisaged with an original outlay of over Rs.1800 crore are expected to be completed in three years to add an additional capacity for handling in mechanised environment. The port has already declared its intention to increase its capacity from 85 million tonne to 124 million tonne in the next two to three years besides several environment-friendly measures.

THE HINDU