The Hindu Business Line : Kochi port expansion — Reclaiming land at Willingdon Island

The Kochi port has been thinking of taking over additional land due to the shortage of space on Willingdon Island, where the port activities are concentrated now.

TO cope with the growing needs of port operation as well as for the development needs of the trade, the Kochi port has initiated several expansion plans, including reclamation and development of land at the south end of Willingdon Island.

The port has been thinking of taking over additional land for quite some time due to the shortage of space on Willingdon Island, where the port activities are concentrated now.

The port area of the island is fully utilised for various purposes connected with port operations and, hence, additional areas have to be made available elsewhere for future needs.

Mr A. Janardhana Rao, Deputy Chairman, Kochi Port Trust, said that the two phases of the reclamation and development work are over and the port had entered the final stages of expansion work at the southern end. Work on about 60 hectares lying between the NH 47-A and the naval base was taken up in the final phase at a total cost of Rs 27 crore.

The completion of work in the third and final stage will yield around 48 hectares of usable land for smooth port operations after earmarking areas for roads and drainage facilities, he said. The construction of a reclamation bund to enclose the proposed area of filling was taken up and completed at a cost of Rs 2 crore. The filling inside the area by dredging has been awarded to Jaisu Shipping at a tendered cost of Rs 9.72 crore. The area thus filled up will be developed by providing necessary roads, drains, etc.

Once the area is stabilised, it will be used for port-related activities, Mr Rao said. The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute also carried out the environmental monitoring of water and sediment quality parameters from selected locations of the dredging area over 24 months, as stipulated by the Environment Ministry.

A model study on the proposal for reclaiming the land was also conducted at the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, to test the hydraulic changes by the reclamation proposal. The model study showed improvements in the flow conditions in the Mattanchery Channel, thereby reducing the siltation and maintenance dredging cost.

Accordingly, the design and profile suggested by the CWPRS to enclose an area of 150 hectares was adopted. The peripheral reclamation wall was constructed and it was decided to take up the filling and development of the area according to the requirement of land and availability of funds.

The clearance for carrying out the scheme in phases was obtained from the Environment Ministry. The scheme was taken up for execution in three phases. The first consists of an area of 26 hectares near the airport and Mattanchery halt area. The second phase consists of an area of 23 hectares lying south of new NH-47A. And the third phase covers 60 hectares between NH-47A and the naval area.

The scheme of reclamation involves construction of a peripheral bund with rubble; filling up with the material obtained from dredging from the adjacent backwater; and development of the area thus reclaimed by providing necessary roads, drains, and so on.

An area of about 15 hectares was reclaimed and utilised for laying the National Highway link from the port to the NH-47. This area was later on handed over to the highway authorities as part of the Kochi-Madurai highway.

As per the directions of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, about 18 hectares was earmarked for providing necessary peripheral canals and for a sailing club for the Navy.

About eight hectares of this reclamation is beneath the flying funnel of the airport, which could not be used for any construction and has, as such, been left without filling up.

The filling and development work of the first phase of 26 hectares was completed at a cost of Rs 477 lakh. Of this, about 19 hectares has been fully utilised for the commercial purposes.

The second phase of reclamation of about 23 hectares to the south of NH-47A was completed at a cost of Rs 5 crore. This area is to be leased for port-related activities.