'Dhamra would be the most modern deep draft port'

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The Dhamra Port Corporation Ltd (DPCL), a 50:50 joint venture of L&T and Tata Steel, is setting up a deep draft port of international standard at Dhamra on the Orissa coast. Tucked in between Paradip Port in the South and the Haldia Port in the North, the port is considered to be strategically important, as it will be closer to South East Asian countries. DPCL will create the entire core infrastructure along with two berths in the first phase with an investment of Rs 2,463 crore. However, the project has met with stiff resistance from environmentalists even after all the statutory environment clearances have been accorded to the project and DPCL claiming that it would adopt the best environmental management practices in the world. Unfazed by the adverse propaganda, the DPCL CEO, Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, is steering the port construction work with a deadline of making it operational by 2010. Mohapatra talks to FE’s special correspondent Dilip Bisoi about the project. Excerpts:

What is the present position of the Dharma port project?

The project is on schedule. There were small slippages of two to three months because of problems in land acquisition. We are trying to adjust the time overrun by squeezing other schedules. With 90% of land acquisition already over, we have started picking up the speed. We have already completed 25% of the first phase of the project.

When do you expect the project would become operational?

The First Phase of the project would be ready by 2010. We would be able to make the port operational by the middle of 2010. Two berths with a total capacity of 25 million tonne per annum (MTPA) would be thrown open for handling cargo.

All the core infrastructure like channel, rail communication, and other ancillary infrastructure would be ready with the completion of the first phase.

With Paradip as a major port in the south and Haldia in the north, will the Dhamra project be viable?

Dhamra would be the most modern deep draft port in the country. With 18mt draft Dhamra would be the only port in the country which would be able to receive super Cape size ships of 1,80,000 dwt. It would be the port that would handle 60,000 tonnes of dry cargo per day. No other port in the country could handle dry cargo as efficiently as Dhamra.