Dhamra Port to invest Rs 7,000 cr for expansion

Adani group had bought out L&T and Tata Steel's shares in the company in March 2014 at an enterprise value of Rs 5,500 cr

Adani Group-owned Dhamra Port Company Limited (DCPL) would invest around Rs 7,000 crore for expansion of cargo handling facility, an official of the company said on Tuesday.

“We are embarking on the second phase of expansion of Dhamra Port. The company will invest Rs 7,000 crore for increasing the number of berths from two to 13,” Santosh Mahapatra, director of DCPL told reporters.

He said the company was earlier awaiting clearances from the concerned authorities for commencing the expansion work.

Now with all the requisite clearances in place, work on the expansion would start soon, he added.

Gujarat-based Adani Group bought out L&T and Tata Steel’s shares in the company in March 2014 at an enterprise value of Rs 5,500 crore. Following the acquisition, the second phase of development was to be initiated within 90 days and completion targeted in 30 months.

This continued expansion will allow Dhamra port to exceed 100 million tonnes of cargo capacity by the year 2020, he said. Mahapatra said presently, the port was handling around 12 -13 million tonnes of cargo annually. "Plans are also there to take the capacity beyond 100 million tonnes per annum", he said. The port, situated between Haldia in West Bengal and Paradip in Odisha, was mostly handling cargo like coal and limestone.