Haldia to get captive barge jetties soon

23 March 2012

KoPT likely to invite expressions of interest
biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 23 MARCH: The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) authorities are likely to invite expressions of interest for construction of captive barge jetties at Haldia soon. The Haldia-based Hooghly Metcoke, a subsidiary of Tata Steel, has shown interest in a captive jetty.
The KoPT authorities have taken initiatives to execute the plan as per the guidelines of the Union shipping ministry, sources in KoPT said. According to port officials, Hooghly Metcoke at present requires about 1.2 million ton of coal to produce coke for Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant and half of it is imported through Haldia and the other half through an Odisha port.
Renuka Sugar, another Haldia-based company, too had earlier shown interest in a similarly facility and indicated a cargo of one million ton. Citing reasons for taking such initiatives, a senior port official said: “The port will neither required to invest on the construction of the jetties, nor to chase traffic. The jetties will be located on the river front to avoid the limitations of lock operation hitting the existing berths within the impounded dock.”
But, some port officials have ridiculed the port’s recent proposal before the Union shipping ministry to transfer the Budget allocation of Rs 50 crore, originally earmarked in May, 2005 for dumping of dredged silt of Jellingham, the Governing Bar for Haldia, for land reclamation at Sagar Island. This has triggered confusion among some port officials over the justification of the move.
"When land acquisition is not possible for Sagar port, KoPT is going for land reclamation through construction of dyke in the river. Why the same process can’t be repeated at Nandigram side as acquisition of land is not possible here," a port officer in Haldia said. "If the chairman is trying to implement land reclamation at Sagar, then why did he open up Eden Channel at a cost of Rs 8 Crore?" he asked.
The port officials said opening of Eden Channel will not yield any benefit to Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) unless and until capital dredging takes place at Jellingham.
"An unsigned Minutes of the meeting with the secretary (shipping) on 26 October 2010 has been enclosed with the agenda of the Board meeting scheduled on 23 March 2012, where transfer of Rs 50 crore from Haldia A/C to Sagar Port A/C has been proposed, but it is not clear from the document whether this unsigned document can be construed as the approval of the secretary (shipping)," said a senior port official.
Mr KL Meena, chairman of KoPT, was not, however, available for comment.