By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 31, 2018: The Odisha Government has identified 12 non-major ports in the State, informed State Commerce Minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu in the Odisha Assembly on Saturday.

In a written reply, Sahu mentioned that a notification regarding the establishment of 12 non-major ports, including four in Balasore, two each in Ganjam, Bhadrak and Puri and one each in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara, respectively has been issued by the Government.

The state government had identified Subarnarekha river mouth, Astaranga, Jatadhari Muhan, Bichitrapur, Palur and Barunei Muhan for setting up the non-major ports. Some of the chosen sites did not take off for port operations as the proponents walked out of the ventures while the one at Barunei Muhan was shelved because of its potentially damaging ecological impact.

The Minister also informed that among the 12 proposed non-major ports, construction at Chudamani port in Bhadrak district has run into hurdles after Aditya Birla Group, one of the companies that signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government withdrew from the agreement.

Currently, apart from Paradip port, non-major ports at Dhamra and Gopalpur are operational now.