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The public sector Cochin Shipyard Ltd will set up a new ship repair facility in Kochi at an estimated cost of Rs 750 crore, the Union Shipping Minister G. K. Vasan said here on Friday.
The new facility will come up at the 45-acre land owned by the Cochin Port Trust, which had announced its plan to lease out the plot for a ship repair yard.
The land, with an 800-metre waterfront, already has a small repair facility and is close to the Mattancherry Wharf.
Inaugurating a session on ports, shipbuilding and logistics at the Emerging Kerala event, the Minister said the ship repair facility will create new employment opportunities in the State.
The port trust wanted to go for a global tender to lease out the land for setting up the repair facility. However, the Shipping Ministry, which administers both the port and the shipyard, decided that the ship repair yard will be set up by CSL.
For CSL, the repair yard will be a part of its expansion plan costing close to Rs 1500 crore. The Kochi based PSU will be going in for an initial public offer (IPO) to part-fund the expansion.
Major revenue source
Ship repair has been a major revenue earner for the yard. However, following the allotment of additional space for building the aircraft carrier, the shipyard could not take full potential of the repair business. Last year, revenues from ship repair came down to Rs 145 crore from Rs 200 crore in the previous year.
The proposed repair yard with “ship-lift” facility will handle small and medium vessels.
CSL will also set up an offshore fabrication yard and an underwater repair facility.
With the commissioning of the Vallarpadam Container Terminal and new projects such as the LNG Terminal and expansion at the BPCL-Kochi Refinery, Kochi will see increased demand for a ship repair facility.
The Minister said the Government is actively considering the State Government’s proposal to develop Azhikal Port in northern Kerala as a Major Port. Azhikal will be the second major port in the State after Kochi. The Minister said, out of the 42 projects taken up for implementation in the ports sector this year, 29 are PPP projects costing Rs 15,000 crore.
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