Mumbai: The shipping ministry is on the lookout for a site close to the city to build a port that will handle hazardous goods which are today taking up space at the Mumbai Port Trust.
Such a shift shall be beneficial to the health of the city and also free up port land for the development envisaged by the ministry .
The alternative site will handle coal, chemicals and fertilizers, and ship-breaking activities.
"We plan to handle only clean cargo and oil supplies through the pipelines at MbPT," Union minister of shipping and transport Nitin Gadkari said.
Port operations are carried out on 271 hectares of land on MbPT's eastern coast -most of the cargo is handled at Indira docks as Princess and Victoria docks are not operational. The shifting of hazardous cargo will cut pollution in the sea as well as on land as hundreds of trucks use P D'Mello Road to ferry goods. "We will have to find a spot that has adequate draft to handle big ships," a port official said. "It is not easy to find the site in the shortterm. The proposal is at a very nascent stage, but MbPT can look for alternative sites at Rewas or Mandwa."
MbPT will need to free up large stretches of land to implement the port redevelopment plan. The port trust also wants to develop its land as a major tourist attraction by revamping the seafront with promenades and landscaping.
A committee under former MBPT chariman Rani Jadhav has already submitted a report that lays down the road map for the project.
"We are in talks with the Singapore Planning Authority for implementation of this project," Gadkari said.
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