Acting chairman of Kolkata Port Trust M T Krishna Babu today said that not a very bright future lay in store for the port unless the proposed Tajpur port got off the ground and employees improved their productivity.
He also said that the Subarnarekha port project in Odisha posed a greater challenge to the KoPT than Paradip port and to withstand this the Tajpur port should be under KoPT's control.
Krishna Babu said that the Tajpur Port facility needed to be complementary to the Haldia docks for the KoPT to survive. However, the West Bengal government was contemplating to develop Tajpur with a private operator.
"The hinterland of Paradip port is different than KoPT. The projects of Paradip port may pose a threat in the long run but in the short term Subarnarekha port will be a greater competitor as also Dhamra Port," he said.
Subarnarekha Port is a deep draft port coming up at the mouth of Chaumukh river in Balasore District of Odisha and will pose direct comeptition to Haldia docks.
Expressing anxeity over continuous agitation by labour unions of the port and inefficiencies at the docks, Krishna Babu said, "I have told the unions that your pension is safe only if the port earns enough to fill the deficit running at Rs 3,000 crore.
Tajpur and Subernarekha Ports can potentialy divert 40 per cent of Haldia's cargo sounding a death knell for KoPT with it's existing KDS, HDC docks unless a suitable strategy is charted out.
Krishna Babu said that the Union Shipping Ministy had told the West Bengal government that it wanted to become the key promoter for Tajpur port project.
The existing channels leading to the Haldia dock are gradually getting choked and a Rs 3,000 crore project needs to be taken up to cut a channel right through the Nayachar island for a long term draft solution, the acting chairman says.
In a small way Krishna Babu is trying to improve efficiency and transperency with RIFD and ERP projects at the dock level.
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