He said, “India does not have a suitable container transshipment facility. A port is planned to be developed at the southern tip of Nicobar Island. The first phase is targeted to be operational by 2028. The core infrastructure of the port will be built by the central government. Other port facilities will be developed by private sector. and operators. The total investment in the first phase will be around Rs 17 thousand crore.”
Kolkata Port Authority (KOPT) has already prepared a draft Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed port. Harnad said that letters of intent will be called this month to understand the market and potential investors’ minds regarding the project. He said, “KOPT will call for letters of intent and prepare the final DPR. KOPT will also issue Request for Proposals for the port project. The process of identifying investors is expected to be completed by the next financial year.”
Who could be the potential investors? According to experts, large international shipping companies or container transport companies or port and terminal operators can invest in such projects. But in terms of business, that investment must be profitable.
AK Mehra, deputy chairman of KOPT, said that at present, all the containers that go abroad by sea from India go to Colombo or Singapore ports. After shipping the container from any port in India to Singapore or Colombo, the shipping company or container transport company loads it on a big ship and transports it to the specific destination abroad. He said, “The proposed port at Galathian Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands will bypass Singapore and Colombo on the shipping route. This will save huge amount of foreign exchange.”
Galathian Bay has a normal navigability of 20 meters where the port is planned to be built. So there shouldn’t be any problem with big ships moving there. Mehra said there are plans to reclaim the land and construct port berths. He said, “In the first phase, the proposed port is targeting to handle 4.3 million 20 feet containers per annum by 2028. This capacity will increase to 16 million containers per annum by 2058.”
Meanwhile, KOPT chairman said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the multi-modal terminal at Haldia on Friday. The terminal will operate on 24X7 basis.