Calcutta Port Trust will add a new feather to its cap if the Hamburg University confirms the efficacy of its models for correction of the Hooghly river course.
CPT prepared mathematical and physical models showing the location of the river corrective works under a comprehensive scheme. The Rs 290-crore scheme envisages construction of a southern guide wall, capital dredging at Balari, a shore disposal terminal at the southern end of the Nayachara Island, trimming of the western face of Nayachara Island, and bank protective works at different places.
The 11.5 km southern guidewall will take about three years to complete. Capital dredging at Balari is an ambitious Rs 130 crore programme. The shore disposal terminal will again take about three years. Trimming of the western side of Nayachara Island will cost the port more than Rs 30 crore.
After completion of the scheme, the draft of the Hooghly estuary at Haldia will improve to 10.6 metres from the existing 9-9.5 metres. In the case of Calcutta Dock System, the draft will also improve to 7.9 metres from the existing draft of 7-7.5 metres.
The models were prepared by CPT's hydraulic engineering department in association with the Central Water Power Research Station of Pune. The models were prepared in mid-1997.
The CPT is aware that the scheme is important for the survival of the Calcutta port, especially after the international agreement with Bangladesh for sharing Ganga water.
The CPT management therefore felt the scheme should be verified by an international institute of repute.
The international institute was to confirm the efficacy of different components of the scheme and to determine the sequence of execution. CPT also wanted that the institute should quantify the improvement in the Hooghly river's navigability.
Hamburg University's Institut fuer Meeres Kunde was selected through competitive bidding for the job. J Sundermann, an acknowledged authority on the subject, heads the institute. CPT models were sent to Sundermann in December 1997.
Sundermann had already submitted an interim report in February 1997 where the institute had broadly approved the models prepared by CPT. His final report will be available in mid-October.
