KoPT in water transport promotion plan

The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), to expand inland water transport (IWT) business, has launched a package to encourage private participation in the sector.

KoPT is the only riverside port in the country, located on the river Hoogly.

The trust has come up with a policy to support private enterprises willing to invest in building IWT terminals, setting up warehouses on port land and plying IWT barges on the river.

To begin with, the port will allow private operators to build terminals on the river. It will also offer land along the riverside to develop warehouses.

The IWT cargo was 500,000 tonne last fiscal, a fraction of the total cargo of 35.75 million tonne handled in 2002-3 by the KoPT. The port has set a target to handle 2.5 million tonne cargo in 2004-5 and 16-18 million tonne by 2010.

"Kolkata has the longest navigational channel of 292 km among all ports in the country. Moreover, it is the only port to be situated on a national waterway, in this case the NW 1. We will exploit these advantages to develop IWT," said A K Chanda, chairman of KoPT.

It owns 3,326 acre of riverfront land at Howrah, Kolkata, and Budge-Budge.

The port trust has worked a revenue sharing formula for private terminal operators.

Under this formula, operators have to pay at the rate of 20 per cent of the prevailing ocean going charge for cargo handling to KoPT, if the facility is situated on port land.

In case the jetty and warehouse are built in the non-port area, operators have to pay at 30 per cent of the ocean going charge. Operators can handle cargo within the Kolkata port against the payment at 50 per cent of the ocean rate.

Moreover, the port has decided to limit the vessel-related charge only to Re 1 per tonne. A special concession would be provided for lighterage cargo. Also, operators will be free to fix rates at each terminal.

The new policy is being formulated in tandem with the Saugor Island virtual jetty, which will be commissioned by the KoPT shortly.

The jetty can handle around 1.5 million tonne of IWT cargo from next fiscal. The port will build two more virtual jetties at Saugor. Moreover, it would build a full-fledged dock complex under the Sagarmala Project by 2010.

"When all of these are commissioned, cargo capacity will go up to 16-18 million tonne," a port official said.

While KoPT's move has been welcomed by the industry, there are apprehensions about the draft and night navigation.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the body entrusted to develop IWT infrastructure, has promised to provide 1.8 metre draft from Kolkata to Patna. It has also started a fixed schedule service between Haldia and Patna.

At present the port is handling cargoes such as cement clinker, manganese ore, fly ash, pulses and met and petroleum coke.

IWT cargo was being shipped to Bangladesh through Sunderbans as well.