AHMEDABAD: Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) on Monday announced its plan to increase the cargo handling capacity at Kandla port in Kutch. The authority will invest Rs 5,963 crore. As part of the plan, DPA plans to develop two mega cargo handling terminals on the BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis under a public-private partnership. The development will be undertaken with a concession period of 30 years.
S K Mehta, chairperson, DPA, said: “At Deendayal Port, we are focusing on six major strategic areas which include cargo and productivity improvement, landlord port development, port-led industrialization, coastal shipping, and Ro-Ro and Ro-Pax expansion.” He added: “These two mega cargo handling projects will decongest the port and reduce waiting time for handling containers and cargo.”
The authority has decided to develop a container terminal and a multipurpose cargo berth at Tuna-Tekra in Kutch district. The container terminal plans to handle deeper draught vessels up to 6,000 twenty foot-equivalent units (TEUs) to 21,000 TEUs with a draught of 14m to 18m, respectively. Once operational, the terminal will be well equipped to tap into the container market growth in the region with better infrastructure and the state-of-the-art world-class container facility.
Moreover, the multipurpose cargo berth plans to handle vessels up to 1,00,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) to 2,10,000 with vessels of draught of 15m to 18m. The proposed facility shall be used for handling multipurpose cargo such as foodgrains, fertilizers, coal, ores and minerals, and steel.
The port has been visualized to shift the existing handling of coal from Kandla to Tuna-Tekra and to cater to the future growth in multipurpose cargo traffic.
