 "Paradip Port to select consultant soon for Rs 8,200-cr outer harbour project")
Paradip Port Trust (PPT) would engage a consultant in two months for the outer harbour being taken up under Government of India’s Sagarmala project. The outer harbour, tipped to have a cargo handling capacity of 150 million tonne per annum, is estimated to cost Rs 8,200 crore.
“The consultant would prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the outer harbour project. The harbour is mainly designed to ship coal to the southern states’’, said Rinkesh Roy, chairman, PPT.
The outer harbour is part of PPT’s grand plan to reach a cargo volume of 325 million tonne (mt) by 2025. The port, as of now, has a capacity to handle 126.94 mt cargo. Last fiscal, PPT clocked cargo volume of 76.38 mt, emerging as the second largest major port after Kandla and growing 7.5% year-on-year.
“This fiscal, our target is to reach 90 mt and be in excess of 100 mt by 2017-18. We have grown 14% in the April-June quarter and in July, our cargo has risen 26%. In this year, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) would be the key driver to cargo growth," Roy said.
In last fiscal, thermal coal was the biggest contributor to the port’s cargo load at 31.75 mt followed by POL (20.57 mnt). Iron ore traffic which was at a measly 0.5 mt last year has rebounded in the past two months.
PPT’s revenue earnings in FY17 are expected to be upwards of Rs 1,200 crore as compared to Rs 1,146 crore in last fiscal.
For this fiscal, PPT has firmed up a Capital expenditure of Rs 2,000 crore to be expended on new coal and iron ore berths and a dedicated berth to handle clean cargo including containers.
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“The container terminal would see an investment of Rs 480-500 crore. A container berth is expected to be commissioned by August next year. Apart from containers, it would also handle clean cargo like break bulk steel and fertilisers," he said.
PPT has already inked a concession agreement in March last year with Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt Ltd (PICT). It is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by United Liner Agencies India Pvt Ltd which is a part of J M Baxi Group for construction/development of a multipurpose berth through public private partnership (PPP) mode on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis in order to cater to the container traffic and clean cargo at Paradip port.
Presently, rail handles 63% of the port’s traffic; pipeline caters to 27% while conveyor systems and road account for 8% and 2% respectively.