The Hindu Business Line : Haldia jetty: Kolkata port to invite bids for consultant

Selected consultant will be responsible not only for the preparation of the detailed project report but also for the total execution of the project.

Santanu Sanyal

Kolkata, July 14 Kolkata Port Trust will soon invite bids for the appointment of a consultant for the proposed riverine jetty at Haldia dock.

The proposal in this regard is to be placed before the Board of Trustees of the port shortly, it is learnt.

The selected consultant will be responsible not only for the preparation of the detailed project report but also for the total execution of the project.

Estimated to cost Rs 100 crore, the jetty — to be located on the riverfront near the third oil jetty outside the impounded dock system — will have an initial capacity of 1.5 million tonnes (mt).

This will mainly comprise containerised traffic and the capacity is to be stepped up to 3 mt gradually, depending on the traffic growth.

Subject to the selection of the consultant and preparation of the detailed project report in time, the final work order will be issued in January 2010 so that the commissioning could take place before the targeted July 2011.

Since the project will not be implemented on a BOT (build, own, transfer) basis but by the port itself out of its own resources, there may be delay in its implementation as a plethora of clearances have to be obtained from various government authorities.

Second jetty

The proposal for a second riverine jetty at Haldia, however, has been put on hold at the suggestion of Central Water & Power Research Station, Pune. The location of the jetty was identified at a place on the river front closer to the present number oil jetty of the dock.

Since the functioning of the jetty is often hampered by the shoaling of the river near it, the research station has advised the dock authorities to wait and watch for some time, it is learnt.

The bid for the appointment of a consultant for the construction of lay-up berth within the impounded dock at Haldia is likely to be invited some time in September.

The plan is to finalise the selection of the consultant by January 2009 with the targeted date of completion of the project by 2011-12 fiscal.

The proposed jetties and the berths are designed to relieve the dock of the problem of congestion.

On commissioning of the jetties, the container vessels, receiving priority berthing, will no longer required to go inside the impounded dock for loading/unloading of containers.

This way ingress and egress of bulk carriers, particularly iron ore vessels, will be much easier and will also cut down substantially on the waiting period, both pre-berthing and post-loading, it is felt.

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