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The West Bengal government is expecting an investment of ₹16,000 crore in the proposed deep-sea port at Tajpur, in East Midnapore district.
According to Amit Mitra, State Finance and Commerce & Industry Minister, the government will float a request for the proposal or an expression of interest within the next two months.
Work on the first phase is expected to start by January.
The port will be located at a 3-km stretch between Tajpur and Shankarpur in the East Midnapore district and will have nine berths. A total of 10,000 jobs (directly) will be created. “The first phase will entail an investment of ₹10,000 crore and six berths. The second phase will see an investment of ₹6,000 crore and three berths. Apart from creating direct employment for 10,000 people; indirect employment generation will be around 30,000,” Mitra told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on ‘Opportunities on Maritime Sector in West Bengal’ here.
Public-private partnership The port is expected to come up on a PPP basis, he said but did not name companies that have envisaged interest. Moreover, there will be no land acquisition for setting up the port, that will have a 18.5-km long channel for ships.
The State government will also develop the surrounding infrastructure that includes road connectivity to the nearest National Highway.
Pitching Tajpur as a viable destination, Mitra said the proposed site was located within 23 km of Contai (a major junction) and 10 km from other nearby smaller rail stations.
Interestingly, the Minster did not clear the air on whether both Sagar and Tajpur ports will be viable at the same time.
The KoPT Chairman had pointed out the viability of the ₹12,000-crore Sagar port will depend on the proposed Tajpur port. “It is too early to comment on viability,” Mitra said.
On further prodding, he gave the example of Korea and how it had created additional power generation capacities keeping in mind future demand. Hence, developing additional infrastructure was a plan to be future-ready.
Considering the current GDP growth rate of the State, we can have three ports in a 10-year period. But this is too futuristic, he added.
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