Paradip: The port in the town on Sunday reached the coveted milestone of handling 100 million metric tonne (MMT) cargo per annum and entered a club that till now had only two other Indian ports as its members.

Paradip port is the third after Kandla and Mundra to be part of the coveted century club. The port achieved the target a few days before the end of the current fiscal, said Paradip Port Trust chairman Rinkesh Roy.

The port's cargo handling capacity has already jumped to 277 MMT per annum, the highest among all major ports in India.

Various infrastructure strengthening projects worth Rs 3,500 crore are in progress under the Centre-funded Sagarmala programme. The mechanisation project of three general cargo berths - EQ-1, EQ-2 and EQ-3 - are progressing at a rapid pace.

"The construction of a new deep draught iron ore berth, clean cargo berth and a container berth are also in various stages of progress," Roy said. "Once these projects are complete, the port's infrastructure capacity would receive a further boost."

The clean cargo berth, which is set to be commissioned this year, will boost not only the economy of Odisha, but also of nearby states.

The township is undergoing rapid progress under the port-led development project that will see a wood park come up here to process timber from southeast Asian countries. An 11 lakh square metre warehouse is being developed in the Multi-Modal Logistics Park.

This will be the one of the largest in the country and allow the township to emerge as a major distribution centre in eastern India.

Paradip Port Trust is also developing a competitive Smart Industrial Port City at an estimated cost of Rs 2,770 crore that will make the town a hub for micro, small and medium enterprises. The project includes setting up the Multi-Modal Logistics Parks spread over 100 acre.

To provide impetus to port-based development, the port is allocating land to various industries and has received expression of interest applications from over 40 industries to set up units in Paradip. Among the major themes for development is a wood cluster that will see industries from western India shift base to Paradip.