Paradip: The port here is poised to enter the exclusive club of the country's ports that handle more than 100 million metric tonne (MMT) cargo a year.

At present, the ports at Kandla and Mundra have achieved the status.

Paradip port is well on its way to enter the club by the end of the current fiscal, said Paradip Port Trust chairman Rinkesh Roy.

"In the current fiscal, 83MMT cargo handling has already been carried out by the port. We are quite confident of getting the better of 100MMT cargo handling when the current fiscal ends on March 31," he said.

The cargo-handling capacity of the port has already jumped to 277MMT per annum, the highest among all major ports.

Various infrastructure-strengthening projects worth Rs 3,500 crore are in progress under the Centre-funded Sagarmala Programme. The mechanisation project of of EQ-1, EQ-2 and EQ-3 berths are fast progressing. The construction of a new deep draught iron ore berth, clean cargo berth and container berth are in various stages of progress, he said.

"Once these projects are complete, the infrastructure capacity of the port will increase further," Roy said.

The clean cargo berth is slated for commissioning this year, which will boost not only the economy of the state, but also that of the nearby states.

Under the port-led development, a wood park is coming up for the processing of timber coming from southeast Asian countries.

An 11 lakh sqm warehousing is being developed at Multi Modal Logistics Park. This will be the one of the largest in the country, and consequently, Paradip will emerge as a major distribution centre in eastern India.