The ministry of surface transport has put together a short-term revival plan for the ailing public sector Hoogly Docks and Ports Engineers (HDPE) by placing ship construction orders.
Sources said HDPE was implementing an order for a cargo and a passenger-cum-cargo vessel for the Andaman and Nicobar government. Each vessel is expected to cost around Rs 49 crore.
This was part of the revival plan prescribed by the expert committee headed by the chairman and managing director of the Cochin Shipyard two years ago to make HDPE earn sufficient revenues to shed at least a part of its outstanding debt, which is around Rs 30 crore.
The revival plan was approved by the committee of secretaries two years ago. HDPE has accumulated losses of about Rs 100 crore and has a negative net worth of about Rs 77 crore. Sources said this short-term revival plan was a prelude to a long-term revival plan for the company. The proposed long-term revival plan includes capital restructuring and a programme to reduce excessive manpower in the company. The long-term revival plan for the company was prepared by ICICI and submitted to the ministry last year and a final decision on implementing it is yet to be taken.
Sources said depending on the execution of the two orders by HDPE, more orders are likely to be placed. There are also plans of HDPE building vessels for plying along inland waterways.HDPE has y two docks in Calcutta. The Salkia works is for construction of ships, dredgers, tugs and other vessels. The Nazirgunj works is for construction of fishing trawlers, hopper dredgers, and for repairs of vessels.
