The world’s largest stretch
of ship-breaking beaches on Alang-Sosiya, in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, will
be upgraded through a $76 million soft loan from the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA).
An official announcement on
the loan will be made in Gandhinagar on Thursday during the visit of Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, multiple sources told BusinessLine.
The total cost of
upgradation is $111.22 million, which would be financed by as much as 68 per
cent through the JICA loan. The loan will have a tenure of 30 years at an
interest rate of 1.2 per cent, with a repayment moratorium of 10 years.
The loan will be used to
upgrade 70 yards over the next five years.
The planned upgrades
building impervious floors to prevent pollutants from entering the sub-soil,
improvement of existing environmental facilities such as incinerator and oil
recovery systems, introduction of mobile decontamination units and pollution
response equipment and installing large mobile cranes and beach cleaning wheel
loaders and tank cleaning barge.
The upgradation plan is
aimed at helping Alang comply with international standards on ship recycling
and raise its share to 55 per cent from the existing 32 per cent, a Gujarat
Maritime Board official said.
It also seeks to achieve
zero discharge of waste into the sea and coastal area as well as zero minor
accident in recycling oil tankers and other vessels.
Source: the
hindu businessline. 13 September 2017
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