Union Shipping Minister G. K. Vasan (centre) presents a cheque for Rs. 50 lakh to V. Shanta, Director, Cancer Institute, Adyar at a function in Chennai on Wednesday. / Photo: R. Ravindran / The Hindu

Cumulative capacity has crossed 1200 million tonnes a year

Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan gave Rs 50 lakh financial assistance to Cancer Institute, Adyar, on behalf of three major ports in the State, which made the donation as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes.

Handing over a cheque to V. Shanta, Director, Cancer Institute, at a function here on Wednesday, Mr. Vasan said that Chennai Port Trust had handled 41.88 million tonnes of cargo till January 15, 2013, and this was expected to reach 53.50 million tonnes by the end of this financial year.

While VOC port in Tuticorin has handled 22.13 million tonnes and expected to reach 28.50 million tonnes, Ennore port handled 12.21 million tonnes and this would reach 15 million tonnes by end of this fiscal.

Stating that the capacity of Indian ports has grown by 15 per cent per year for the past two years, he said cumulative capacity of Indian ports had crossed 1200 million tonnes per annum.

Of the 42 projects planned under public-private participation (PPP) mode with an investment of Rs 14,750 crore, Mr. Vasan said tenders have already been floated for 17 with capacity of 52 million tonnes per annum at a cost of Rs 3600 crore.

Funds earmarked

In line with the Shipping Ministry’s guidelines that every port must earmark three to five per cent of the previous fiscal’s net profit for CSR activities for 2012-13 fiscal, Chennai Port Trust, Ennore Port Limited and VOC Port Trust have earmarked Rs 77 lakh, Rs 2.72 crore and Rs 3.06 crore respectively.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Chennai, January 17th, 2013