Union minister for shipping, road transport and highways T R Baalu said the government will actively consider a proposal for setting up a ship dock at Sagar Island - one of the largest islands in the Sunderban delta in the Bay of Bengal about 150 km to the south of Kolkata."The ship dock is to be built with an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore on the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The government of West Bengal has assured us to provide 1,200-1,500 acre necessary for the dock," he added.Baalu said his ministry will undertake a detailed project report for the proposed ship dock at the Sagar Island.On the issue of the deep sea port in West Bengal, the minister said: "We are ready to go for alternative models like BOT (build, operate and transfer) if the seven consultants appointed by the centre fail to submit the request for proposal by December 20 when the shipping ministry will hold another meeting."The seven consultants had failed to submit the request for proposal on time following which the deadline for the Rs 7,000 crore project was extended to December 20.The deep sea port in Bengal, which is set ot have a draft of not less than 16.5 metre, is being planned to handle high capacity vessels. Bigger vessels cannot call at the Kolkata and the Haldia ports that have a draft of 8-8.5 metre.
