First private sector ICD ready for users

Kolkata based Allied ICD Services Ltd, promoted by PDP group, will set up the first private sector funded inland container depot (ICD) in the eastern region at Durgapur in West Bengal.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 40 crore. The project location is ready but commissioning will be in phases.

"The promoters would have an equity participation of Rs 3 crore initially with term loan from banks in the tune of around Rs 15 crore," said company director Pramod K Srivastava at a press conference. This is the first ICD funded by private company.

The unit will serve chemical, cement, ferro alloys and sponge iron units in the Haldia and Durgapur industrial clusters.

The belts has witnessed a rapid increase in number of small and medium units, from just 300 a decade ago to nearly 3000 now.

The ICD will have warehouses, petrol station and customs clearance facility.

Clearance time at present around 7 days.

Container traffic in Durgapur Assansol belt is around 2000 per day and is expected to reach a figure of around 5000 within next three years.

The company has already acquired 6 acres of industrial land at EPIP, Durgapur at a cost of Rs 72 lakh, added Srivastava.

The land has been handed over by Assansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA).

The depot will have a capacity for around 5000 containers, said Srivastava.

The project will be fully commissioned by April 2006.

The company will be taking technical assistance from Germany based Peter Rathmann & co GmbH.

Exporters and importers based in Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal would benefit immensely as the proposed ICD will provide storage facility along with custom clearance facility within Durgapur.

The existing ICDs in the region are at Kolkata and on the Nepal border.

No ICD serves the port-based cargo, and the ICD is ideally located to do just that.

"The proposed ICD will reduce the operation cost by at least Rs1500 per container and will therefore the inventory cost," noted Srivastava.

The company has urged the state government to provide incentives like a service tax holiday.

"Looking at the growth prospect we expect to recover the investment within next five years," said Srivastava.