Port in Gopalpur suffers heavy losses

The recent cyclone Phailin has hit a severe blow to the upcoming all-weather port in Gopalpur in Odisha. The port is promised to change the face of this coastal town in southern Odisha, but the Phailin has damaged it a lot.

The port, after overcoming environment clearance and partnership issues, started Phase II operations a few months ago. Hundreds of crores of rupees were pumped into converting the fair weather port into an all-weather facility.

Now with the cyclone damage, the port developers led by Orissa Stevedores fear that the money spent could be at stake following the damage it suffered due to Phailin. Due to the cyclone, there was no loss of life as people were evacuated from the vessels. But the efforts put in since March 2008 could go waste, the port’s officials said.