The Hindu Business Line : Falta SEZ jetty makes a turnaround

CENTURY Plyboards (India) Ltd, a major player in the plywood and veneer industry, has successfully turned around the operation of a small jetty located within the Falta Special Economic Zone (FSEZ) on the bank of the Hooghly river, about 55 km from Kolkata. On completing one year of operations in 2003-04, the jetty recorded earnings of Rs 1.8 crore, and a profit of Rs 80 lakh. The company paid approximately Rs 20 lakh to the Commerce Ministry for its 25 per cent share of the profit.

Established in the 1980s, the FSEZ, originally an export-processing zone, was known as FEPZ. It became the FSEZ in 2000. The jetty, located in Sector III of the SEZ, is owned by the Commerce Ministry.

Till 2002, the jetty did not function properly with the result that it became financially unviable. In 2002, the Century Group signed a long-term agreement with the Commerce Ministry and acquired management control of the jetty. As per the agreement, the company was given the rights to undertake whatever minor investments were required, fix up the charges and collect revenue. In return, they company was to pay the Ministry either Rs 2.5 lakh per annum or 25 per cent of the profit, whichever was higher.

According to Mr Sajjan Bhajanka, Managing Director, Century Plyboards, only 50 per cent of the total capacity of the jetty has been utilised in 2003-04. The jetty can handle 2 lakh tonnes of cargo and it can be upgraded with fresh investments of around Rs 2 crore.

After takeover, the management invested around Rs 25 lakh in this project. The jetty, currently handling mostly timber imports and some consignments of flyash for export, is complete with a Customs-approved bonded stockyard.

Due to the heavy traffic, the ships bound for Kolkata Dock System (KDS) do not always go up to the KDS but anchor much before, at Diamond Harbour anchorage. The consignments are unloaded from the ships, reloaded on boats and barges and then transported to the Falta jetty.

According to Mr Bhajanka, the cost of importing goods through the Falta jetty is cheaper than that through the KDS. "The handling charge at the Falta jetty is only Rs 70 per tonne as compared to Rs 370 per tonne at the KDS", he said.

Century Plyboards has also submitted a proposal to several authorities concerned, including the Commerce Ministry, Kolkata Port Trust and West Bengal Government, for increasing the capacity of the jetty to 2.5 lakh tonnes per annum at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore. The proposal is pending with all the authorities for some time now, presumably because none of them was interested in it, said Mr Bhajanka. "Even the Kolkata port authorities, who should have cleared the proposal, are sitting on it", he observed.

Container movement through this jetty is not possible right now because of infrastructure bottlenecks, particularly the limited draught in the river, he said, but added that there was still room for boosting the traffic.