Kandla Port Dy Chairman to take over as Ennore Port CMD

MA Bhaskarachar Deputy Chairman of Kandla Port Trust to take over as the new Chairman and Managing of Ennore Port Ltd, country's first corporate port set up by the Ministry of Shipping. Bhaskarachar will take over from S P Velumani who will step down on November 30, 2012.

Meanwhile the Port has said it is working on a revised project plan for the proposed container terminal and the construction cost of the project will go up by around 15% as per the new plan.

While confirming Bhaskarachar will take over the Port administration, Velumani said the Port has now decided to revise the scope of the container terminal project. “Our revised estimate is around Rs 1,600 crore as compared to Rs 1,407 crore estimated earlier”.

It may be noted in August this year Eredene Capital PLC, a UK based infrastructure fund has withdrawn from the Ennore Port container terminal project in light of the changed economic outlook in India since the concession was granted - the increased cost of local financing, depreciation of the Indian Rupee and lower projected growth in container traffic.

“We are sending the new scope of the project study to the Shipping Ministry, soon we will take a call and few companies including DP World have shown interest in the project,” said Velumani. He added, the capacity of the container terminal will also be increased by around 10% from earlier planned 1.5 million TEUs a year.

It may be noted in August 2010 Eredne Capital signed a concession agreement with Bay of Bengal Gateway Terminals Pvt Ltd, to develop a Rs 1,407 crore container terminal at Ennore port. Bay of Bengal Gateway is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company formed for the project with members being Grup Maritim TCB, S.L., Spain; Obrascon Huarte Lain, S.A., Spain; Lanco Infratech Ltd and Eredene Capital PLC, UK/India, which has a 22% shareholding in BoB.

Velumani said the Port is expected to sign a concession agreement in the next 10-12 months and from the time the agreement signed it will take 30 months to complete the project.