KoPT officers place demands ahead of biennial poll of Haldia dock

31 August 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 31 AUG: Ahead of the biennial election of the Haldia Dock Officers’ Forum, the officers working in the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) have raised issues relating to the financial revival of the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) to defeat their rival candidates.
Among their 14-point charter of demands, the officers who dominated the forum have stressed allowing full-fledged vessel movement through Eden Channel as soon as possible so that the Rs 10 crores spent on impediment removal and navigational aids does not go to waste.
The dominating officers who are now contesting for the posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint-secretary have raised the issue regarding the onboard and onshore operations at berths two and eight of the HDC.
"We have contracted out the total onboard and onshore operations at berth two and eight of the HDC, and we got a rate of Rs 227 per MT from TAMP against our payment of Rs 70 per MT to ABG, a private logistic company," said a port officer.
"We should, accordingly, make all efforts so that ABG continues with its operations without any hurdle and we should replicate this ABG model while mechanising other berths of HDC for maximum realisation to the port," the officer said.
ABG entered into a public-private-partnership with KoPT a couple of years ago to handle cargo at two berths in the HDC, but has recently threatened to suspend operations from 8 September unless it is offered a better deal by the port authorities. This has triggered a sensation among the port officials, who have made it their main election issue against rival candidates.
The dominating officials have also highlighted the Sagar project. “We have already spent Rs 10 crore on a feasibility study by RITES," a port officer said. 
"The Sagar Port project is not only technically unviable, as pointed out by RITES in its draft report, the project is not even economically viable as evident from the final report of RITES. We, accordingly, cannot allow KoPT to spend even a single penny on Sagar Port unless the economic viability of the project is established and all stake holders of the port are taken into confidence before spending a single penny of the project," a port officer said.
The port officers also said KoPT earns Rs 120 crore per annum from handling containers at KDS.
"If we go for construction of the Diamond Harbour Container Terminal on a PPP (public-private partnership) basis, our entire container cargo will shift to the account of the BOT operator at Diamond Harbour and, consequently, our income will come down from Rs 120 crore per annum to Rs 24 crore per annum if we assume a maximum revenue sharing of 20 per cent," an officer said.  “Will this amount be enough for salary payments to 9,000 employees and 33,000 pensioners of KoPT? We would like to mention here that Cochin Port Trust has given almost all its facilities to private operators on a BOT basis with some revenue-sharing arrangements and is incurring a loss of Rs 80 crore per annum. Do we want a similar situation at HDC/KoPT?” the officer asked.  The election is scheduled for 2 September.