Astaranga port project DPR in nine months

Hyderabad-based Navyug Engineering Ltd, which recently inked a concession agreement with the Orissa government for setting up an all-weather, multi-user port at Astaranga in Puri district, hopes to come out with the Detailed Project Report (DPR) within nine months.

"We have an internal target of coming out with the DPR for the proposed Astaranga port in nine months. The company has engaged a Delhi-based consultant for preparing the DPR. Preparation is also underway for carrying out an EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) study for the port”, a top company official told Business Standard.

The DPR will have an accurate assessment of the land needed for the project and the employment opportunities to be created by the port.

"The port will have a draft of 20 metres and vessels up to 170,000 DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage) can call at the port. The site does not fall under high or medium erosion coastal zone”, he added.

The project is being taken up at a cost of Rs 6500 crore. The initial capacity of the port will be 25 million tonne per annum (mtpa) which will be eventually scaled up to 70 mtpa. It may be noted that the state government had entered into an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the company on December 22, 2008.

The port will kick off operations within 48 months of allotment of land. As per the concession agreement, the port developer will share five per cent of its gross income during the first five years, eight per cent from fifth to the tenth year, 10 per cent from 11th to 15 th year and 12 per cent from the 16th year to the end of the lease period.

In the first phase, the company will have four berths and ultimately, it will be scaled up to 25 berths. The project is being implemented on BOOST (Build, Own, Operate, Share and Transfer) basis. The port will export iron ore, thermal coal, clinker, steel products and break bulk cargo. It will import thermal coal, coking coal, metallurgical coke and break bulk cargo.