Dubai Port World, one of the largest global port operators, today said it is in talks with major ports in India to modernise the port infrastructure, and is hopeful of developing Kulpi project in West Bengal, pending for about 17 years now.
"We are in advanced talks with the Central and state governments on Kulpi and are making progress," said Senior Vice President and Managing Director, DP World Subcontinent, Anil Singh here.
Dubai-based DP World is developing India's first International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam, under a public-private-partnership with Cochin Port and the government of India at an investment of Rs 6,250 crore. The first phase of the project is dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here.
DP World has 49 terminals, including in Mundra, Chennai, Visakhapatnam.
Vallarpadam Port's capacity would be expanded to around 4 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) by 2016 from the one million TEU at present.
"We are long-term investors. There is a shortage of port capacity in the country. India needs further port capacity addition and Kulpi is still viable," Anil Singh said when asked about the Kulpi project.
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The Kulpi port at south 24 Parganas in West Bengal was planned to be set up by Bengal Port, a company in which Keventer Group holds 44.5%, DP World another 44.5% and the balance 11% is with the state government.
However, it got delayed, as stakeholders could not arrive at a consensus regarding sharing of the dredging cost with the Kolkata Port Trust, another major port.
While DP World officials were against shouldering the dredging costs of Kolkata and Haldia ports, Kolkata Port Trust wanted them to share some of the cost burden since all parties were slated to use the same navigational system.
DP World acquired the Kulpi project as part of its $6.8 billion acquisition of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O).
Addressing the press conference, Chairman DP World, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said DP World is in discussion with other major ports as well for infrastructure projects.
"We are in continuous discussions with different port authorities. India is short of large ports, short of efficient operations and the economy is growing. We are committed to make investments in India," said Sulayem.