Kolkata Port Trust seeks Rs 150-cr loan from FIs

Sunil Mukhopadhyay

Kolkata, Aug 28: THE Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is negotiating with financial institutions (FIs) for a Rs 150-crore loan to tackle its mounting staff costs even as higher tariffs have hit traffic earnings.

Earlier this year, the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) set higher port charges for the Kolkata Dock System of the KoPT, exempting the much younger and better-placed Haldia Dock Complex.

The 131-year old riverine port has already got the approval of the Union Government to take the loan, a senior KoPT official said.

Sources indicated that the port has been forced to take the loan to meet the enhanced payouts to the employees. Most of the money will be needed by the KDS, which incurred a net deficit of Rs 108 crore in 2000-01 fiscal on revenues of Rs 246 crore.

“We are desperately negotiating for the loan. Otherwise, it would become almost difficult for us to pay the dues of pensioners and employees, including their regular wages,” the official said. The KDS expects to show a higher net deficit of Rs 140 crore this fiscal, with the higher cargo handling and vessel related charges imposed in April threatening to drive away traffic.

The berth hiring charges were increased by 2.5 to 3 times, and pilotage more than doubled. As a result, traffic in the KDS fell by around 38 per cent from 2.349 million tonnes during April-July 2000 to 1.463 mt during the same period of 2001. At this rate, the KDS is expected to report a traffic decline of 3.5 million tonnes during 2001-02.

The port trust’s chairman, Mr HP Roy, admitted that he is expecting a loss, but declined to quantify it.

Of the port trust’s total pension bill of Rs 158 crore, the KDS shells out Rs 74 crore and Haldia Rs 74 crore. Haldia itself has a very small liability of Rs 4 crore.

The port trust expects the pension liability to mount to Rs 177 crore in 2001-02. After factoring in the revision that is due, the annual pension payout could be Rs 235 crore.

Kolkata, being an old port with a much larger head count than younger sibling Haldia, has a high pension and wage bill. As on March 31, 2001, Kolkata had 26,498 pensioners on its rolls.