The Hindu Business Line : 'DCI gearing up for competition'

The Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), set up at Visakhapatnam in 1976, is a profit-making public sector undertaking which is gearing up for competition as the sector has been opened up in recent times. The DCI is acquiring more dredgers and looking for joint ventures with foreign companies as it braces up for the challenges ahead. In an interview, Mr Neerav Kumar Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, outlines the future plans.

Excerpts from the interview:

What is DCI's role in the Sethusamudram channel project and what do you think of the reservations expressed by some over the project?

I think it is a good project and the DCI is a stakeholder with Rs 30-crore equityin it. The Tuticorin Port Trust is the nodal agency. We have been awarded the E3-E4 section in the project involving roughly 13 million cubic metres of dredging, of which we have so far completed two million cubic meters. For the other stretches, four foreign companies have made bids., which are being evaluated.

Have you made any headway in forming JVs with other dredging companies?

The DCI is forming a joint venture with Dredging International of Belgium which may be finalised by the end of the year.

We have engaged PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), New Delhi, to identify possible partners abroad for joint-ventures.

Such ventures will enable us to take up capital dredging in India and maintain dredging operations abroad.

What are the steps being taken for fleet augmentation and what is the average age of the fleet?

We have recently signed an agreement with Mazagon Dock for the construction of a cutter suction dredger of 2,000 cubic metres solids per hour pumping capacity at a cost of Rs 252.81 crore. It is to be delivered within two years.

Efforts are on to acquire one more trailer suction hopper dredger of 5,000 cubic metres hopper capacity.

Right now, the fleet consists of 10 trailer suction hopper dredgers, two cutter suction dredgers and other ancillary craft.

The average age of the fleet is 18 years which, even by international standards, is acceptable. But some of our dredgers have to be replaced and we need three or four more.

What are DCI's future plans?

PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been appointed to benchmark the DCI against reputed dredging companies and assist in preparing the corporate plan for the five-year period from 2005-2006.

We expect the plan to be ready by the end of the year. We will make our moves accordingly and face the future.

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