PTI reported that East India's deepest port at Dhamra in Odisha was dedicated to the nation by Odisha chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik on Sunday.

Mr Patnaik said “The inauguration of Dhamra port is a landmark in the history of Odisha's development as the state has got its second major port after a gap of 45 years.”

The port has been developed as a 50:50 JV of L&T and TATA Steel. The construction of Phase I commenced in March 2007 and was completed in 4 years. The port became commercially operational on May 6th 2011.

Dhamra Port Company Limited has been awarded a concession by the state government to build and operate a port north of the mouth of Dhamra River in Bhadrak district on BOOST (Build, Own, Operate, Share and Transfer) basis for 34 years including a period of 4 years for construction.

During Phase-I, DPCL has constructed two fully mechanized berths of 350 meters each along with backup facilities for handling imports of coking coal, steam/thermal coal, limestone and export of iron ore.

(Sourced from PTI)