Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has expressed concerns that it may have to postpone the planned construction of a fourth container terminal, if the Delhi-Mumbai rail-freight corridor is not built on time.

"We want to know the shape of the freight corridor. Any delay may force us to postpone the project as we will be faced with evacuation problems if the corridor does not take off on time," JNPT deputy chairperson Maya Sinha was quoted as saying in a report by Daily News Analysis.

JNPT currently handles 58 per cent of India's container traffic, and the fourth container terminal would be needed to raise capacity from 33.2 million tons at present to 100 million tons by 2011-12. Both the public and private sectors will finance the project.

The problem is the INR3,000 crore (US$678,807) container terminal design hinges on the completion of the INR66,000 crore rail corridor that will link up four cities. The new rail line needs to be up and running before the new box terminal can start operations.

Other development work that JNPT expects to undertake during this development period is the extension of its berth length at Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal by 330 metres, to accommodate two medium-sized ships by 2008-09. This comes amid forecasts that container traffic is expected to grow annually at a compound rate of 18.31 per cent nationwide.