WAPCOS had earlier entered into an agreement with the Odisha government for consultancy work on the riverine port planned at Mahanadi river mouth. It has recently submitted its techno-economic feasibility report.
“WAPCOS has already submitted its feasibility report. We are examining it. The report says it is feasible to develop the riverine port. The overall port capacity has been pegged at 55 mtpa, including 22 mtpa in the first phase. The total investment for the port has been estimated at Rs 4,000 crore,” said a senior government official.
More From This Section
He said, the state would kick off the tendering process after the end of the ‘Model Code of Conduct’ enforced for the ongoing elections.
The Planning Commission is providing hand holding support for the port project. The panel will prepare the model concession agreement and also other documents like Request for Proposal (RFP) and Request for Qualification (RFQ).
The port is likely to come up at the Mahanadi river mouth near Paradeep close to the operational facilities of Essar Steel Odisha Ltd and Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative Ltd (Iffco).
The riverine port has been envisioned as a common user port for different industries.
Since the riverine port has been planned at the Mahanadi river mouth, the commerce & transport department has urged the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) to keep in abeyance the handing over of the land adjoining the river to IIffco and Essar Steel.
The riverine port in the state is modeled on a similar port built on the Tapti river mouth in Gujarat.
Earlier, Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) had evinced interest in setting up a satellite port, identifying Bahuda Muhan near Gopalpur in south Odisha as a suitable location. PPT was open to developing the port through the joint venture (JV) route with the state government. PPT was looking to ramp up its cargo handling capacity to 250 million tonne by 2020 from 106 million tonne at present. The state government had identified 14 locations for development of non-major port projects. Of these locations, a deep sea port planned at Barunei Muhan in Kendrapara district has been shelved owing to threat to mass nesting site of Olive Ridley turtles. Only two non-major ports at Dhamra and Gopalpur have commenced operations. Dhamra port, an equal JV between L&T and the Tatas has already seen grounding of investment of Rs 3,600 crore in the first phase of its commercial operations that began in May 2011.
The port is awaiting land allotment from the state government to start its second phase operations. The port promoters had lined up Rs 10,000 crore for its second expansion that would upgrade capacity to 100 million tonne, from 25 million tonne currently. Other locations identified for development of port projects include Jatadhari Muhan, Bichitrapur, Palur and Kirtania to name a few.