Odisha: Tenders for first riverine port by July-end

The Odisha government would invite tenders for the first riverine port proposed at Mahanadi river mouth by the end of July.

“WAPCOS has submitted a feasibility report on the riverine port project. The report is being studied and various aspects of the project are being finetuned. We are aiming to invite tenders for the project by the end of next month,” said a top state official. WAPCOS  had entered into an agreement with the state government for consultancy work and it has submitted its techno-economic feasibility report on the riverine port. The overall port capacity has been pegged at 55 mtpa, including 22 mtpa in the first phase. The total investment for the port has been estimated at Rs 4,000 crore

The Planning Commission is providing hand holding support for the port project. The panel will prepare the model concession agreement and also other documents like Request for Proposal (RFP) and Request for Qualification (RFQ).

The port is likely to come up at the Mahanadi river mouth near Paradeep close to the operational facilities of Essar Steel Odisha Ltd and Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative Ltd (Iffco).

The riverine port has been envisioned as a common user port for different industries.

Since the riverine port is planned at the Mahanadi river mouth, the commerce & transport department has urged the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) to keep in abeyance the handing over of the land adjoining the river to IIffco and Essar Steel.

The project has been modeled on a similar port built on the Tapti river mouth in Gujarat. Earlier, Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) had evinced interest in setting up a satellite port, identifying Bahuda Muhan near Gopalpur in south Odisha as a suitable location.

PPT was keen to develop the port through the joint venture (JV) route with the state government. PPT intends to ramp up its cargo handling capacity to 250 million tonne by 2020 from 106 million tonne at present. The state government had identified 14 locations for development of non-major port projects. Of these locations, a deep sea port planned at Barunei Muhan in Kendrapara district has been shelved owing to threat to mass nesting site of Olive Ridley turtles. Only two non-major ports at Dhamra and Gopalpur have commenced operations.

The Dhamra port, which has recently been taken over by the Adani group from the promoters- Tata Steel and L & T, is awaiting land allotment from the state government to start its second phase expansion.