Essar Ports is planning ₹3,500 crore capital expenditure in the next three years as a part of its corporate expansion plans, said Rajiv Agarwal, Managing Director, Essar Ports. 

Till date, the capital deployed by the company is about ₹10,500 crore, Agarwal said in a telephonic interview to BusinessLine .

He said that funds for the capital expenditure would be raised from debt and equity, at the ratio of 70:30.

For upgrading port infrastructure at Salaya terminal around ₹350 crore would be invested in the coming months.

Paradip coal terminal would require about ₹850 crore and Hazira terminal expansion would cost about ₹750 crore, to expand its capacity from 30 to 50 million tonnes.

At Vizag coal terminal ₹1,150 crore would be invested.

The remaining funds would be used for other port-related infrastructure. 

Today, the cumulative cargo handling capacity of all the ports controlled by the company is about 120 million tonnes.

Essar Ports plan to increase this to 140 million tonnes by the end of the current fiscal. The company is looking at handling 190 million tonnes of cargo by 2017, Agarwal said.

He also pointed out that the cargo handling capacity of all ports across the country is about 1,100 million tonnes, of which Essar Port's contribution is about 120 million tonnes.

Essar Ports would be able to double its capacity at Vadinar, Salaya and Hazira terminals as and when the economy of the country picks up. 

Essar Ports is optimistic that the company's newly developed infrastructure would provide good returns in coming years.

New players are finding it difficult to enter this space due to issues of land availability and environmental clearances, Agarwal said.

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