The Hindu Business Line : Kolkata Port to buy land for dumping Hooghly silt

THE Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) Authority has decided to acquire 10,000 acres of land near Jellingham, south of Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) and negotiations in this regard are on with the West Bengal Government, Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman, KoPT, has said.

He said KoPT required the land for dumping the dredged out soil from the Hooghly river channel.

As a first step, KoPT has allotted Rs 50 crore for acquisition of 2,500 acres of land, Dr Chanda told newspersons on the sidelines of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Howrah Bridge and celebration of the 134th anniversary of the KoPT here on Monday.

Currently, the dredged out soil in the river channel is dumped in the riverbed causing further siltation and KoPT had been in search of suitable land for the purpose.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kenji Shimizu, Consul General of Japan, dubbed Kolkata as the "Eastern Gateway" of the country to South-East Asia and said the Japanese Government was poised to increase its investment in West Bengal.

Mr Shimizu was optimistic about the on-going talks with the State Government on the construction of a bridge on the river Hooghly at the Raichak-Kukrahati point. The Japanese Government is also keen to invest on construction of a third oil jetty at the HDC.

He also expressed satisfaction on the pace of implementation of projects in Bengal. He, however, was not happy over the lack of proper infrastructure, and added that his Government would assist in the removal of these bottlenecks in the State.

Mr Lakshman Seth, Member of Parliament and Chairman, Haldia Development Authority, alleged that while there was no dearth of funds, received as grants from the Centre, the KoPT and Dredging Corporation of India have failed miserably to handle the draft problems in the river channel.

During April-October, 2004, the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) registered a growth of 25.21 per cent in container handling, the highest growth rate in container handling among all major ports in the country. During this period, KDS handled 88,644 TEUs and HDC 76,244 TEUs.

The increases in the export of CI goods, iron and steel, jute and jute products, mica, shrimp and others have considerably contributed to the growth. Imports consisting of iron and steel machinery, metal ingots, natural rubber and textile goods among others through the KDS were also higher.

Similarly, at the HDC, higher exports of garments, jute and jute products, tea and iron and steel, and increase in the import of plastics and plastic products, scrap iron, iron and steel, waste paper etc were instrumental in higher container traffic.