The construction work of the Rs 2460 crore Dhamara port, being developed by Dhamara Port Company Limited (DPCL), a joint venture of Tata Steel and L & T, is on track with more than one third of the work being completed.
The work is mostly concentrated around building railway connectivity, channel dredging, and berth construction.
DPCL, till date, has invested about Rs 900 crore in the project coming up in Bhadrakh district of Orissa. With the payments of balance dues for procurement of machineries due in the coming months, the investment figure is likely to increase substantially. “Work on all fronts starting from rail connectivity to Bulk Material Handling System (BMHS) is going on in full swing and more than a third of the construction work is over.
We hope to operationalise the first phase of the port by 2010”, Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, chief executive officer (CEO), DPCL told Business Standard. He said, the construction of rail connectivity from Bhadrakh to Dhamara is going on in full scale and the embankment construction is almost complete. Similarly, the construction of berths, cargo handling system, channel dredging is also going on. Meanwhile, the company has already placed orders for all the machineries.