The Orissa government has recently given the environmental nod for this project which is being promoted by International Seaports (India) Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Seaports Pte Ltd of Singapore. The company is hoping to complete financial closure by the end of this year.

India's construction and engineering giant Larsen & Toubro has one-third equity stake in the Singapore company which also has capital chipped in equal measure by Precious Shipping of Thailand and Stevedoring Services of US.

The company is currently talking to several local financial institutions to raise the debt portion of the project which will cost upwards of Rs1,200 crore in the first phase and around Rs 300 crore in the second phase. The port project will follow similar debt-equity norms allowed in the case of power projects in the country. Promoters will bring in 30 per cent of the capital cost of the project as equity while the balance 70 per cent will be the debt portion.

According to International Seaports (India) vice-president R Rangarajan the company is also exploring the possibility of sourcing cheaper foreign funds for the project. The company signed an agreement with the Orissa government in April this year to complete the project on a BOOST (build, own, operate, share and transfer) basis with four years of construction and 30 years of operation which is extendable by another 20 years.

Rangarajan talking to The Financial Express said the Dhamara port will be the first port of its kind with deep draft of 16 meters going up to 18 metres with tide and capable of handling cape-size vessels of 120,000 dwt vessels.

Paradip port, he said, has a draft of10 meters now and is planning expansion to 16 meters while Ennore port with a 15 meters draft will be capable of handling only Panamax vessles of 65,000 dwt.

Dhamara will have a loading and unloading rate of 5,000 tonnes and in this range it will be the first of its kind in the country. Rangarajan said Paradip port will be expanding to loading 4,000 tonnes in future while Ennore will have the capacity to handle 1500-3000 tonnes of loading and unloading of cargo.

In the first phase the Dhamara port will create a deep channel with 10 meter facility and have its own railway line for 60 kms from a branch of Chennai-Calcutta line. The promoters are in the process of getting the land for the railway line and hope to do it by April next year.