The Orissa Government is likely to fasttrack land acquisition process for Astaranga minor port in the state.
The project needs 3,900 acre, including 1,464 acre of government land and 2,436 acre private land. However, the land acquisition process has been on hold due to various issues such as opposition by locals, lack of environment clearance and non-compliance of land acquisition norms. So far, the state government has acquired 2,400 acre and needs to buy rest 1,500 acre to enable the private company to start construction.
Navayuga Engineering Company (NECL) is the developer for the minor port, which will be built with total investment of more than Rs 6,500 crore. The initial capacity of the port will be 25 million tpa which will be eventually enhanced further to 70 million tpa.