Kulpi port to get going by Jan '08

The West Bengal government is likely to finalise the agreement for an all-weather port at Kulpi, about 78 km from Kolkata in South 24 Parganas district, by January 2008.

Stakeholders in the project are DP World, city-based Keventer Group and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).

The project would require the nod of the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT). The state government is in the process of finalising the draft agreement and then the proposal would be sent to the Centre, says state Commerce and Industry Secretary Sabysachi Sen.

"The private parties are keen to start the project as soon as possible. We hope to finalise the deal by the end of January 2008," Sen said.

The project, when it was conceived in 2006, also included the development of a special economic zone (SEZ) spread over 2,500 acres, apart from the port, spread over 700 acres. Sen did not say whether the agreement would include the SEZ as well.

The project was in limbo for a while after Dubai World, world's third-largest port operator, took over the greenfield Kulpi port project as part of its acquisition of UK-based P&O, which conceived the project in February 2006.

However, the investment commitments were confirmed when Dubai World Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee earlier this year.

Kulpi port will include all-weather port facilities, a ship-breaking yard and an industrial park. The marine terminal will have a 450-metre quay and a handling capacity of 650,000 million TEUs.