The committee formed by the Orissa government to resolve issues constraining the setting up of a shipyard and oil rig manufacturing unit at Dhamra by Oceanic Shipyard Limited (OSL) has suggested that the oilrig and the shipyard projects of the company may come up in one location to the north of Dhamra instead of two separate locations.
Besides, the common facilities required for shipyard and oilrig project and the ancillary park may be put up in the original shipyard site at Chardiha, sources said.
It has further recommended that the 850 acres of unused land of Defence Reserach and Development Organisation (DRDO) to the north of Dhamra will be divided between OSL and Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) so that both the projects can co-exist.
The OSL may be given 450 acres out of the total 850 acres and the remaining 400 acres may be given to DPCL. OSL is also expected to be provided a sea opening to the north of Dhamra.
The committee, headed by special secretary (transport), government of Orissa having representatives from (DPCL),OSL, Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (Ipicol) and director (ports) as members today submitted its report to the industry department. The government will take a decision after examining the report in detail, sources added.
OSL has proposed to set up a ship building yard and ship repairing project at Dhamra at an investment of Rs 2200 crore, which was cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) headed by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik in June last year. The state government has issued the notification under 6 (1) for acquisition of 1050 acres of land for this employment intensive venture.
Though there is no problem for the shipyard project to be located at Chardiha, some problems have cropped up for the oilrig unit to come up over 864 acres of land to the north of Dhamra port. One pertained to the shifting of the undersea cable laid by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) between Wheeler Island and the main land and the other pertain to the land required for the oilrig manufacturing and repairing facility which is opposed by DPCL.
Though senior officials of the state government have discussed the issue of shifting the undersea cable with the chief scientist, DRDO, the defence body reportedly told the state officials that it does not have the required expertise for shifting the cables and it will not have objections if the job is done by the developer of the shipyard and oilrig projects.
However, OSL argued that only one or two companies in the world have the expertise to shift the undersea cable. Since the cost of this work is not known, it may be prohibitive for OSL as its oilrig project cost is capped at Rs 900 crore.
Secondly, if both the shipyard and the oilrig projects come up at Chardiha which is 14 km away from sea, then OSL will have to make use of the sea channel of DPCL which will have to be financially and technically viable.
Since oilrigs are slow moving and can move 2 nautical miles per hour, it may take 6 to 7 hours to cross the 14 km distance between the proposed location and sea. Moreover, given the swampy nature of the land, it may create problem during the high tide periods, sources said.
On the other hand, the frequency of the oil rig movement will be very less may be only once a month. So it may not be possible on the part of OSL to maintain an independent sea channel for the oilrig venture.
