HYDERABAD: The Visakhapatnam Port will get a major face-lift with the Union Ministry of Shipping giving the green signal for investing a whopping Rs 2,600 crore for taking up nine projects, including modernisation of the port. While five projects have been cleared and four are under processing, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) authorities are aiming at completing all the projects by 2013. It has also been decided to develop Bheemili as a satellite terminal for the Visakhapatnam Port.Union minister for shipping GK Vasan, who was in the city to attend a two-day 13th meeting of Maritime State Development Council (MSDC), said the VPT has shown an impressive 40 percent growth in cargo exports.The Ministry of Shipping is open to the proposal of setting up another major port in AP. The State government officials are in touch with the Ministry over finalising the location for the port. “The chief secretary of AP has proposed two sites on the east coast and a final decision will be taken after our technical committee does a feasibility study,” he said.With increased threat perception, the MSDC has decided to up the security at all the ports to International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) standards. While all the 12 major ports and 53 non-major ports are ISPS compliant, the remaining non-major ports will be made ISPS compliant on priority basis within a fixed timeframe, the minister said.At the meeting, attended by ministers from Orissa, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala apart from senior officials from all the maritime states, all the ports dealing with export and import of cargo were asked to install Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) manned by qualified and trained personnel to deal with the security aspect. The MSDC has also asked all the ports to give priority for berthing of Navy and Coast Guard vessels.The Ministry of Shipping will take up with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the State governments to expedite various port projects.The Tier-I pollution control equipment has been made mandatory at all the ports to combat oil pollution in the ports. As a security measure, the delegates at the MSDC meeting have agreed to install radioactive material detectors in all major ports. The Council also suggested all the maritime State governments to install the radioactive material detectors in their ports.Replying to a query, secretary (Shipping) K Mohan Das said the ministry has agreed in principle to a request made by the shipping industry for deploying armed guards on ships to prevent attacks by the pirates. He said a final decision will be taken only after discussing the issue with the defence ministry and concerned departments due to increasing attacks by pirates.
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