Kandla Port Trust seeks Centre's nod for port SEZ

The Kandla Port Trust (KPT) has approached the central government for developing 6,094 hectare of land at Kandla and Tuna into a port-based special economic zone so as to match international standards.

"We have sent a proposal to the ministry of commerce and industry in July and are awaiting an in-principle nod to develop port-based SEZ at Kandla on the vast expanse of land owned by us," according to an official of the Kandla Port Trust.

The port has appointed Kochi-based agency Kitco to prepare a detailed project report, which is likely to be made available in a few weeks, sources said.

The estimates of the project have not been arrived at yet. The zone, which will be developed by KPT, will invite private players to set up facilities there, the official added.

In terms of infrastructure, the SEZ is touted to be of international standards, which will match even those of Dubai and Sharjah.

The existing Kandla SEZ is 15 km away from the jetty and KPT has proposed an SEZ adjacent to the jetty. The proposed SEZ area will have facilities such as dry cargo berths to be set up in 94 hectare, besides outer harbour berthing facilities off the slope near Tuna for handling multifarious cargo generated from the proposed SEZ.

While 2,400 hectare has been proposed for this, 3,600 hectare is proposed at Kandla in rear of the existing cargo berth complex.

All three locations shall be connected through contiguous complex as per the requirement, according to the proposal. The development of port-based SEZ will provide concessional and cost effective infrastructure to the entrepreneurs.

"The establishment of the port based SEZ will increase the opportunities of foreign direct investment. It will also provide an avenue for technology absorption in business, leading to increased value addition for products," sources informed.

To meet the global and national demand of increased maritime cargo, the port is in the process of developing various infrastructural facilities at the cost of Rs 5,081 crore covered under NMDP 2004-2014.

In the next ten years, the the Kandla port may handle 80-100 million tonne of cargo. During 2005-06, the port registered a growth of 13 per cent of dry cargo and 5 per cent of liquid cargo compared with the previous year.

The port handled 45.91 million metric tonne of cargo from 2,124 ships during 2005-06. Total tonnage of 383 million metric tonne was handled by the 11 major ports of the country in the period.