JNPT gets approval for freight station extension

The Centre has approved the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust's (JNPT) plan to extend its existing container freight station (CFS) facilities over a 300-hectare land to facilitate handling of the increasing traffic.

The port authority is expected to auction land to private parties to set up the additional CFS.

JNPT chairman Ravi Budhiraja said the port authority has sought the help of the City and Industrial Development Corporation in setting up the reserve price for the land to be auctioned. The CFS facilities are being extended to facilitate cargo movement once the port's third terminal becomes operational in April next year.

Budhiraja said the first jetty would become operational in April 2006, while the others are expected to be ready by the end of the year. The new terminal will add another 1.3 to 1.5 teu capacity to the port, which already handles the majority of cargo from the western and the northern states.

This year, in the first half alone, the port handled around 1.7 teu of cargo and is expecting to handle 2.6 teu by the year end, Budhirja said. Last year, the port had handled 2.3 teu, 56 per cent of the entire container traffic in the country. JNPT is also planning a fourth terminal on which the techno-economic feasibility study has been commissioned and is expected to be completed by the end of this month, Budhiraja said. The study is being conducted by IDFC.

Besides, the port is also considering dredging its existing 50-metre channel by two metres and is expected to invite global tenders within a few weeks.

JNPT chairman said the port authority is expected to meet the cost of dredging through internal accruals and market borrowing.

He said talks are on with the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to share the dredging cost as MbPT is also planning an offshore terminal.