The Hindu Business Line : Referring Hooghly dredging issues to NIOT for review

THE Rs 385-crore River Regulatory Scheme (RRS), designed to improve the navigability of the Hooghly river near Haldia dock, faces an uncertain future following the decision to refer the whole gamut of issues relating to Hooghly dredging to the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) for a fresh review.

The decision was taken in Kolkata on Wednesday at a high-level meeting held by the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, to discuss how to expedite the work of the Kulpi port project proposed to be implemented in the joint sector with participation of P&O Ports, the UK-based port terminal company, and Keventer Agro belonging to the Jalan Group.

Mr D.T. Joseph, Union Shipping Secretary, Mr Jimmy Sarbh of P&O Ports, Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, among others, were present.

The review of the issues relating to Hooghly dredging, it was felt, would be necessary in view of the conflicting views available at the meeting about the desirability of a separate navigable channel in the Hooghly river to facilitate movement of ships that will call at the Kulpi port as and when it will become ready for operation.

While the private sector partners of the port project insisted on a separate channel, others felt that such a channel would not be in the best interest of the Kolkata port including the Haldia dock.

Any exercise on a separate channel, it was pointed out, would jeopardise the Haldia channel covering the Balari bar. The reopening of the Haldia channel, including capital dredging of the Balari, is proposed to be undertaken under the RRS and the Kolkata Port Trust is understood to have been already advised by the Centre to go ahead with the preliminary work relating to invitation of bids for dredging.

Since the same NIOT, which had examined the RRS earlier and made necessary recommendations for its early execution, will now be asked to review afresh the Hooghly dredging issue, it is only natural that the work on the RRS, whose scope includes extensive capital dredging, will not start till NIOT has firmed up its views on the dredging.

At a time when the Haldia dock needs immediate attention and the work on the Haldia channel should start without further delay, the postponement of the implementation of a decision already taken might prove costly to the Kolkata port.

The funding of the dredging cost remains another intractable issue. While the private sector promoters of the project are believed to be reluctant to share any dredging cost, which will be substantial and want the Government to bear it entirely, the Union Government has ruled out providing anything in addition to what it has already committed to fund.

It is nearly 20 years now the navigation through the Haldia channel has stopped, with the huge accumulation of silt having taken place at Balari where a big bar has been formed. The ships bound for both Haldia and Calcutta docks are now required to take a round about longer route via Rangafella channel.

The issue of capital dredging at Balari and the reopening of the Haldia channel has been through many ups and downs in past eight years, in fact more downs than ups. The scheme was first formulated on the basis of views of a foreign expert (Dr Sundermann of Hamburg University) in 1997. The PIB approved the scheme sometime in 2000. Accordingly, tenders were floated as many as seven times but nothing happened. There was hardly any response to the tender as the terms and conditions incorporated in it were not acceptable to the bidders. The foreign expert was asked to give another report, which was referred to NIOT in 2003 for scrutiny, necessary modifications and recommendations.

NIOT gave its views in 2004 and accordingly the modified scheme has been sent to PIB for clearance. NIOT has made it clear that any further delay in implementation will stop full benefits of the scheme from becoming available to the Kolkata port. The Wednesday's decision to refer the issue again to NIOT clearly puts the clock back.

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