PPT sets ball rolling on Rs 35.44 billion projects for Smart Port City

The Smart Industrial Port City developed within the premises of the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) will house a string of projects across sectors. PPT has initiated work on projects valued at Rs 35.44 billion on the self-contained city spread over 700 acres of land.

Projects on the anvil include a multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) committed by Container Corporation of India (Concor), a four million tonne per annum pelletisation unit by Thriveni Earthmovers Ltd, a wood park and a dedicated food park for edible oils, said a  PPT source.

On the MMLP, Concor has pledged an investment of Rs two billion. Land has already been allotted to Concor which is in the process of carrying out a detailed engineering study. The MMLP would comprise warehousing zones, container terminals and bulk cargo terminals. The park envisages a suite of facilities like inland container depots, container freight stations, parking, mechanized handling and inter-modal transfers- all at a single location. Spread over one million square foot, the logistics park promises to generate employment in the realms of warehouse management and logistics operations.

Thriveni Earthmovers is setting up a four mtpa pellet plant within the Smart Industrial Port City on land area measuring 177 acres. Investment on the plant is estimated at Rs 25 billion.

For the edible oil park, PPT expects to float Expression of Interest (EoI) shortly. This park is tipped to draw investments of the order of Rs four billion.

On external infrastructure like roads and water, PPT plans to spend Rs 2.94 billion. The road network which envisages a second exit from Paradip via a flyover will be executed through National Highways Authority of India (NHAI. Presently, the detailed project report (DPR) is being formulated for the same. Work on two sewage treatment plants is underway and are expected to be completed by December this year.

In a separate plan, PPT aims to commission its full-fledged container terminal by August 2018. Built at a cost of Rs 4.31 billion, the terminal is equipped with a handling capacity of five million tonnes per annum. Provisional completion of this terminal was achieved on March 29 this year. Cargo handling operations have commenced on 225 metres quay length.

The terminal positioned on the port’s southern dock, will handle clean cargo as opposed to the bulk terminals on the northern end handling predominantly coal and iron ore.

PPT had inked a concession agreement in March 2015 with Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt Ltd (PICT). It is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by United Liner Agencies India Pvt Ltd which is a part of J M Baxi Group for construction/development of a multipurpose berth through public private partnership (PPP) mode on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis in order to cater to the container traffic and clean cargo at Paradip port. Apart from containers, it would also handle clean cargo like break bulk steel and fertilisers.

The non-hazardous and dust free cargoes including iron and steel products, aluminium ingots, pig iron, finished fertilizers, food grains, sugar (both raw and finished) would be handled effectively and efficiently in the multi-purpose berth.
 

The concessionaire would be responsible for financing, designing, construction, commissioning of the project along with operation, management and maintenance under the concession agreement. The concession period is 30 years.