Decks cleared for Haldia Dock II

The Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT) will invite expression of interest from private players for its new dock system, Haldia Dock II at Salukkhali, within two months.

“We will invite applications for the Haldia Dock II within two months. It will come up in a public private partnership mode. Once the whole process of awarding the project is over, we would like to start work immediately,” said M L Meena, chairman, Kolkata Port Trust. The project is expected to be commissioned by 2012-13.

The Haldia Dock II is envisaged for construction along the west bank of river Hooghly at Salukkhali.

“The most important speciality of Haldia Dock II is that it has a draft of 9 metres without dredging. While Haldia has just 7 metres, we will get a natural advantage of 2 metres in terms of draft,” he said.

According to reports, the state government has already given about 51 acres of land and the balance land of 112 acres is likely to be transferred to KoPT soon.

“The proposed project will have four jetties, which would increase the capacity of the port to 20 million tonne. The total investment is expected to be about Rs 1,000 crore,” Meena added. Plans for rail connectivity are going on, as the project site is close to Haldia-Panskura railway section.

Meanwhile, KoPT has received interests from six service providers for transloading facility at Sandheads.

“For this, I have prepared a comprehensive document and submitted to the ministry. Once the approval comes, we will evaluate these applications,” he said.

“According to our plan, a capsized vessel will be anchored permanently. The vessels which will bring the cargo will transload it into the anchor vessel. Then we will transport it with the help of smaller barges,” he added. This is expected to be cost effective and may also give an immediate boost to inland waterways.