The ministry of shipping has amended Kolkata Port Trust's plan of creating three new berths to boost cargo and container handling volumes. The ministry, in accepting the Capt. Mohan Committee Report, has directed the port trust to construct three new berths that will handle only container traffic. KoPT had originally proposed to handle dry bulk, liquid bulk and container traffic at the three berths.
Speaking to Projectmonitor, S.K. Mondal, Director (Planning & Research), said that the proposed container terminal with three berths, each with a length of 240m, would be constructed at Diamond Harbour. Two barge jetties, each of 100m, will also be constructed taking the total quay length to over 800m. The new terminal with 1 million TEU capacity will substantially boost container trade, he added, given that KoPT handled 0.35 million TEUs of container traffic in 2006-07, up marginally from 0.32 million TEUs in 2005-06. KoPT currently handles containers at both the Kolkata Dock System and the Haldia Dock Complex.
Mondal added that with the revision in project plan, KoPT would need to seek fresh clearance from the Public-Private Appraisal Committee (PPP-AC) that will be applied for in the next six to eight weeks. The new terminal will come up on BOT basis in line with all new shipping infrastructure being developed at major ports. "The process for selecting developers can be initiated only after PPP-AC clearance is in place," Mondal explained. By current thinking, the terminal will be commissioned by April 2010, he observed.
The revision in project plan will set back the completion that was originally anticipated in mid-2009. The project cost will be worked out in light of the new configuration, but it is likely to be in the region of Rs 700 crore, as against Rs 350 crore anticipated in the previous plan.
Most of the land is already in possession. Some patches of land currently owned by the navy and army will soon be transferred to KoPT. There is a very small pocket of private land that will soon be acquired.
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