The related issues of land and logistics could prove to be a significant impediment in the implementation of the proposed port at Sagar Island, which figured in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget speech last month.
“Recognising the need for developing an alternate port facility in West Bengal, it is proposed to develop a project at Sagar Island. Necessary funds will be provided in due course,” Mukherjee had said.
However, officials of the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) — which administers the Kolkata port along with the Haldia port — have pointed out that major difficulties such as land acquisition and port connectivity will have to be addressed if the Sagar Island facility is to be successfully established.
To begin with, about 2,000 acres would be required to set-up a port facility with 8-10 berths. But with due consideration to the political situation in the state, acquisition of such amounts of land is likely to be a fractious process. “Land acquisition will be problem. We will need space for jetties, storage and other services,” a senior KoPT official said. Moreover, at present, Sagar Island is lacking in terms of connectivity. There is no road or rail connection into the island. Therefore, if a large maritime facility is to be established these links will have to be provided. The existing rail and road infrastructure from any location at a proximity to Sagar Island are also grossly inadequate for servicing a large port. These, too, will have to upgraded.
The other connectivity option of Inland Water Transport (IWT) is also ill-equipped to handle substantial volumes resulting from the proposed port. “The IWT option hasn't been thought through. IWT itself needs a few hundred crores of investment. There is a need for new vessels as well as new infrastructure such as terminals,” an official explained. But the importance of establishing a new port in West Bengal cannot be undermined as operations at the existing facilities at Kolkata and Haldia have been badly hit due to heavy siltation of the primary navigational channels.
“In the long-term, having a port at Sagar Island does make a lot of sense, especially since it will be a facility independent of dredging,” an official said.
Not only does the Centre spend upwards of Rs 300 crore as dredging subsidy for the Kolkata and Haldia ports, the overall functioning of the KoPT has been hampered as projects envisaged to alleviate the siltation problem have failed to take off.
For instance, the proposal to open an alternate route into Haldia, the Eden Channel, that would bypass the currently choked Auckland channel, has floundered despite Union minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy's promise that testing on the channel would begin by March.
Meanwhile, the Centre, after having realised the urgent need for capital dredging to revive the ports, has asked KoPT to draw up a detailed proposal for undertaking river regulatory measures at an estimated cost of Rs 995 crore. In the interim, though, the heavily silted navigational channels will have to continue servicing the Kolkata and Haldia facilities.
