Sagar project stays in KoPT's to-do list as it proceeds with Tajpur port

Soon, KoPT will float a tender to select a consultant for a techno-economic feasibility study of the port

Amid speculation that the deep sea port in Sagar Island is likely to be shelved off to give way to the port in Tajpur coast in West Bengal, the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), which is in-charge of the project, cleared the air by stating that both of these will be developed in phases and the plan for these ports hasn't been shelved off.

"The work will be done in phases. Tajpur port will come up in the first phase while the other one in the next," KoPT chairman, Vinit Kumar said.

The shipping ministry was keen to develop the port in Sagar Island in the South 24 Parganas in West Bengal, which could cater to the power and steel plants in the eastern region, and containers from the eastern parts of India and neighbouring landlocked countries- Nepal and Bhutan. The port, it was projected, would be a viable alternative to serve as for spill-over cargo, specifically non-POL bulk from the Haldia dock complex, which is operated by KoPT.

The ministry projected that the traffic in that port, once developed, would be around 3.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 2020 and would have gone up to 27 mtpa by 2035.

While KoPT, after floating the Bhor Sagar special purpose vehicle (where KoPT it has 74 per cent stake and the rest belongs to the West Bengal government) went ahead with the project, the state government proposed development of an alternate greenfield port in Tajpur and wasn't keen to go ahead with the Sagar Island port.

A senior KoPT official said that the primary issue with the construction of the Sagar Island port is a connectivity issue. A new rail and road bridge needed to be constructed as the existing one was weak to handle railway freight. Again, after the railway wagon entered Kolkata, another set of railway tracks and a bridge had to be constructed to take the cargo to Kolkata port from where the final evacuation could take place. Apart from the port development cost of Rs. 1,500 crore, an estimated Rs. 8,000 crore needed to be incurred for construction and development of this infrastructure.

"Even if we can raise the money, we need to acquire land and get the necessary permits where we need cooperation from the state government. In case it doesn't, how can we execute the project", the official said.

Compared to the Sagar Island port, infrastructure development for the Tajpur port, which will again be a 15-metre draft deep-sea port, will be less expensive as rail and road network needs to be developed only across a five-kilometre radius. However, coastal connectivity with the dock needs to be put up which will be much costlier than the Sagar Island port.

"The dock for the Tajpur port will be much more costly to construct than the Sagar Port, but Tajpur port offers good connectivity", J J Biswas, director of the marine department at KoPT said.

In the coming 15-20 days, KoPT will float a tender to select a consultant for a techno-economic feasibility study of the Tajpur project, which is expected to be placed before the shipping ministry in the next 7-10 months.

Kumar said it is only after the study is conducted that a near estimate for construction of the project can be made.

KoPT sources said that both of these ports will be constructed by Bhor Sagar but thereafter, based on a revenue-sharing model, tenders will be floated for selecting a private partner which will equip the port, operate and maintain it.

Earlier, KoPT maintained that both these projects will not be viable at the same time as the distance is too close.

"Nevertheless, traffic movement is increasing and will go up in future days. Each of the ports will have their own share of the pie", Kumar said.

KoPT handled 27.57 mt of traffic during April-September of the current fiscal year, which is a 12 per cent increase as compared to the 24.62 mt traffic handled in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

In terms of ship traffic, it handled 1785 vessels, which is the highest among all the major ports in the country.