The Hindu Business Line : Dhamra Port first phase may be ready in 3 years

Funding pattern
“The Rs 2,400-crore port project will be funded largely by loan, about Rs 1,900 crore, and partly by equity, Rs 500 crore to be subscribed by the two partners in equal proportions.”

Santanu Sanyal

Kolkata, July 3 Orissa’s Dhamra port, being constructed by Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPC), a joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro, will be ready for operation in three years. On completion of the first phase work in three years, the port will have two berths with a total capacity to handle annually 25 million tonnes of bulk cargoes like iron ore and coal.

“Barring unforeseen developments, Dhamra port will be commissioned in April 2010,” Mr S.K. Mohapatra, CEO of DPC, told Business Line in Bhubaneswar recently. “The project management consultant has been appointed, f inancial closure concluded and the orders for supplying equipment have been placed with various agencies.”

Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick India Pvt Ltd, the Indian arm of the UK-based Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick, has been appointed the project management consultant while a consortium of eight banks, headed by IDBI, has concluded the financial closure.

“The Rs 2,400-crore port project will be funded largely by loan, about Rs 1,900 crore, and partly by equity, Rs 500 crore to be subscribed by the two partners in equal proportions,” Mr Mohapatra said.

Dredging will be undertaken by International Seaport Dredging Ltd, a joint venture between L&T and Belgium’s Dredging International. “The cost of dredging, covering both capital and maintenance dredging, is estimated at Rs 600 crore,” he said. “The scope of work will include dredging of an 18-km long channel and removal of about 60 million cubic metres of dredged spoilt over a period of three years.”

L&T, it was indicated, had been entrusted with the Rs 1,200-crore contract covering a wide gamut of operations such as civil, mechanical and electrical work as well as construction of the railway network which will connect the port with the Indian Railways’ network at Bhadrak on the Howrah-Bhubaneswar route. The land acquisition for the railway network was almost complete.

“It will be a 125-metre wide and 62-km long corridor sufficient for constructing three pairs of railway lines and a six-lane road system,” the DPC CEO said. “We’ll start with a single line network and there is no immediate plan for constructing the road,” he observed.

Eco concerns

Mr Mohapatra strongly refuted the allegation levelled by Greenpeace that the port project posed a threat to the fragile ecosystem of the area, particularly rare Olive Ridley turtles. “Greenpeace knows it too well that it will not be able to locate a single live turtle in the area identified for the port project,” he said, adding, “besides, we’re in possession of all necessary approvals of different statutory and other authorities responsible for the protection of environment”.