Kolkata Port invites EoIs for developing port at Sagar island

In search of deeper draft locations to expand port operations, the Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT) has invited expressions of interest(EoI) for port facilities at Sagar island, around 47 kilometers from Haldia located at the confluence of the river Hooghly.

The draft at this location is around 10 metres now, and KoPT deputy chairman A Majumdar said that with the capital dredging it could go up to 12 metres. KoPT plans to set up three jetties initially for handling dry bulk cargo and containers and expects that with a deep draft, the jetties will be able to handle Panamax vessels with a parcel size of 60,000 tonnes and container vessels up to 2,000 twenty-equivalent-units(TEUs).

The Sagar facility will have the potential to handle dry bulk cargo like coking coal, thermal coal,iron ore. Liquid cargo could be handled too, with Suezmax tankers with parcel load size of around 80,000 tonnes.

The project cost is estimated to be around Rs 660 crore and will be developed on a private-public partnership following the build-operate-transfer model. "KoPT would follow the model concession agreement issued by the Union Shipping Ministry for revenue sharing", Majumdar said. The additional cargo handling capacity would be around 10-12 million tonnes as the port plans to have mechanised berths at Sagar, he added.

KoPT is essentially trying to revive a five-year-old Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) project that did not materialise. "We are going ahead with a similar plan without the rail-road connectivity envisaged in the original project," Majumdar informed.

The project would require around 250 acres for the jetties and the lockgates, which KoPT does not have in hand now. "We would have to go through the state government for the land," Majumdar said adding that the port was keen to go ahead with this one as the Diamond Harbour container terminal project was yet to take off due to land related issues.

The project has run into rough weather with the Defence Ministry declining to part with the 43 acres it owns. The proposed terminal, with six jetties, four for handling ocean-going vessels and two for barges, was to come up on 125 acres. Around 43 acres was to come from the Defence Ministry, 40 acres from private landowners while the Directorate of Lighthouses and Lighships had to provide 24 acres with the West Bengal PWD and Fisheries Departments together at 15 acres and the Railways was to shell out around 2.5 acres.

Due to draft related problems, KoPT has been losing a lot of potential sea-borne cargo.

New industries in the hinterland is expected to generate 15-20 million tonnes(mt) of additional cargo by 2011-12 and around 60 mt of additional cargo by 2021-22.