APSEZ-owned Dhamra port to develop industrial park over 2,000 acres

The company has sought the land from the Odisha govt within 20-25 km radius of the port site

Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL), a fully owned subsidiary of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), has asked for 2,000 acres from the Odisha government to develop an industrial park.

DPCL has volunteered to be the anchor tenant for the industrial park. “They (DPCL authorities) have asked for land within 20-25 km radius of the port site. The park would help attract investments in port-based, agro-based and food processing industries,” said a source close to the development.

It might be noted that the Odisha government had earlier announced its plan to develop a Special Investment Region (SIR) around Dhamra over 7,500 acres. But, acquiring such a large patch of contiguous land was not feasible.

The cost of developing infrastructure for the proposed zone was pegged at Rs 31 billion. Of this, the Centre is set to contribute Rs 18.44 billion, and the remaining Rs 12.56 billion will be borne by the state government.

Dhamra is identified as one of the three key manufacturing hubs by the state industries department, aside from Kalinganagar and Paradeep.

Separately, DPCL is pursuing its next phase of expansion. The massive expansion plan would see the port capacity going up to a staggering 300 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), making it the largest port in the country. Dhamra port's present capacity, made up by two berths, is 25 mtpa.

The revised master plan of DPCL envisages the port to be equipped with 32 berths. After expansion, the port would handle liquid and containerised cargo. The original master plan had approved 14 berths for the port with a cargo handling capacity of 100 mtpa.

The port is also gearing up to have an LNG terminal. Adani Enterprises has entered into an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and GAIL (India) Ltd for the terminal, estimated to cost Rs 60 billion. The proposed LNG terminal would have a re-gasification capacity of five mtpa. It would be the sixth LNG terminal on the east coast and feed Indian Oil’s refineries at Paradip, Haldia and Barauni apart from offering feedstock to some fertiliser units.