CCI approves dry bulk terminal near Tuna at Kandla

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) today approved a project for developing a dry bulk terminal off Tekra near Tuna on a build, operate, transfer (BOT) basis at Kandla Port Trust (KPT) in Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs 1060 crore.

An official press release said the project envisaged construction, operation and maintenance of an off-shore berthing structure with four berthing faces by single BOT operator for a license period of 30 years.

The capacity of the project is 14.112 million tonnes per annum for catering to four vessels at a time - two vessels, each of 1,00,000 DWT and draught 15 m on front and two vessels, each of 75,000 DWT and draught of 14 m on rear side of berthing structure.

The project is to be implemented within 24 months from the date of award of concession, the release said.

According to it, the project had been formulated keeping in view the geographical considerations and the container traffic originating from the western states and the industrial development of western India. Increase in physical capacity and improvement in efficiency of KPT would be for the benefit of the nation in terms of development, progress and boost trade.

The project is being developed through public private partnership (PPP) mode and will be awarded through competitive bidding in a transparent manner. It will also generate competition and hence benefit the users. Tariff has been fixed upfront by the Tariff Authority for Major Ports, a statutory body, it said.

The project will have the state-of-the-art mechanized and innovative technology, available in the international market for handling cargo, which in turn will improve the efficiency and capacity of the port and also reduce turn around time of the vessels, the release said.

The proposed infrastructure will handle deep draught vessels thus reducing the freight charges by handling larger parcel size vessels.

The project is expected to give a boost to industrial activities in the hinterland of the port, leading to creation of job opportunities, it added.

NNN