Adani Enterprises today said that its Rs 600 crore newly-built port at Dahej, in Gujarat, is likely to start operations from tomorrow with the arrival of a ship carrying coal.
"The 20-million tonne solid cargo port at Dahej is likely to commence operations from tomorrow with the arrival of the first commercial vessel M V Sesa Star Cosmos," a company spokesperson told PTI over phone.
The terminal is being set up by a joint venture company --Adani Petronet Port -- with Petronet LNG at a cost of Rs 1,150 crore. In the first phase, the terminal has attracted an investment of about Rs 600 crore. Petronet is already operating an LNG import terminal at Dahej, along with a berth for ships.
A senior company official, earlier this month, said that the port was awaiting notification from the customs authorities to commence operations.
The infrastructure sector-focused group is increasingly looking to acquire coal assets overseas to feed its power generation capacity.
"The coal which will be unloaded will be sold to local coal based industries," the spokesperson added. The company plans to use the port for commercial as well as captive purposes.
Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the group led by billionaire Gautam Adani, had posted an over three-fold jump in profit to Rs 407 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal, mainly due to strong performance by its non-core businesses, like power and agro.
Earlier this month, Adani Enterprises -- the country's largest coal importing company -- had sealed a deal worth about AUD 3 billion to buy the coal assets of Australia's Linc Energy to support its plan to expand power generation capacity to 20,000 Mw by 2020.
Adani was recently awarded preferred proponent status for developing the Dudgeon point terminal in Macay, Queensland, Australia.
Also, the company has entered into a $1.65 billion tripartite pact with an Indonesian firm and a provincial government to source coal.
Its subsidiary, Adani Power, is working on 4,620-Mw project in Mundra, Gujarat. It has also announced two other power projects in the state, at Hazira and Dahej.
