The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure today approved a mega container terminal at Chennai Port, to be built under the public-private partnership mode at a cost of Rs 3,686 crore.
The project, which will come up under the design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis, will increase the capacity of the terminal to four million twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) per annum.
The current capacity of two million TEU per annum at the port is estimated to exhaust by 2017-18. TEU is a measuring unit for the vessel loads.
According to an official statement, the project has a concession period of 30 years.
The construction of the project is expected to be completed within seven years from the date of award of concession.
In addition to handling the projected volume of container traffic, the terminal will also be able to handle ultra large container vessels, which are expected to dominate the container trade. This addition will also make Chennai Port compete with other international ports and attract deep drafted vessels to the port, thereby reducing the need for transhipment at the ports of Singapore and Colombo.
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According to the statement, the project is expected to boost exports and imports in the region with savings in freight and ship cost to the shippers.
Bengal Engineering and Science University
The Union Cabinet also approved the proposal for taking over of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur and converting it to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), with a cost of Rs 592.20 crore, to be invested in five years. IIEST will integrate under-graduate education, post graduate education and research in engineering and science under the same umbrella. The admissions to IIEST will be through the national level entrance exam namely, All India Engineering Entrance Examination.