Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government in the Department of Commerce & Transport on Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Gopalpur Port Private Limited.
Accordingly land measuring 119.716 Acre was handed over to Gopalpur Port for further development and expansion of the port.
The MoU was signed by Padmalochan Roul, Director, Ports & Inland Waterway Transport, Commerce & Transport and Janardan Rao, CEO, Gopalpur Port Private Limited.
Tukuni Sahu, Minister, Commerce & Transport, Amitabh Thakur, Transport Commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Special Secretary Commerce & Transport graced the occasion.
It is worth mentioning that, Gopalpur Port was operated by the Government of Odisha as a seasonal lighterage Port from 1986-87.
The Port was awarded to Gopalpur Ports Private Limited for transforming it to an all-weather direct berthing port in PPP mode.
The Concession Agreement between the Government of Odisha and Gopalpur Ports Private Limited was signed on 14 September, 2006.
At present, the Port has 03 (three) berths built over length of 800m to accommodate multiple vessels with annual cargo handling capacity of 20 MMT.
This port has generated direct and indirect employment opportunity for 8000 persons.
The port will also facilitate industrial as well as economic growth of the State in general and Southern Odisha in particular. In the 1st Phase, 393.670 Acre of land was handed over to Gopalpur Port Private Limited.
Land measuring 119.716 Acre was handed over for further development and expansion of the port on 16 September.