Union Cabinet approves setting up of Major port at Enayam in Tamil Nadu

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016 gave in-principle approval for setting up a Major port at Enayam near Colachel in Tamil Nadu.

In this regard, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed for development of Port with initial equity investment from three Major Ports in Tamil Nadu- VO Chidambaranar Port Trust, Chennai Port Trust and Kamarajar Port Limited.

Highlights of the Project
• The Enayam project will cost around 27000 crore rupees and will be undertaken in three phases.
• The cabinet cleared an expenditure of 6575 crore rupees for phase one of the project.
• The SPV will develop the port infrastructure including dredging and reclamation, construction of breakwater, ensuring connectivity links, etc.
• Establishing this Major port at Enayam will not only act as a major gateway container port for Indian cargo but it will also become a trans-shipment hub for the global East-West trade route.
• It will also reduce the logistics cost for exporters and importers in South India who currently depend on trans-shipment in Colombo or other ports thus incurring additional port handling charges.

Background
At present, there are only a few ports in India that have sufficient draft and can match global cargo handling efficiencies.

Currently, all of India's trans-shipment traffic gets handled in Colombo, Singapore and other international ports. Indian port industry loses out up to 1500 Crore rupees of revenues each year.

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