The government has given a go ahead to Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) to buy three dredgers from a Dutch company at a cost of Rs 1,087 crore that would help overcome severe shortage in dredging capacity.
DCI will procure the three new Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers from IHC Holland Merwede BV, information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi said after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Each of the dredgers will have a hopper capacity of 5,000 cubic meters.
DCI will be allowed to opt for external financing up to the extent of about Rs 730 crore. The loan would be sourced either from the domestic market or international market and in case DCI resorts to funding through the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) route, it would seek the necessary approval from the competent authority, Dasmunsi said. The DCI will pay the balance amount from its internal resources.
At present, DCI has an installed dredging capacity of 79.85 million cubic meters. There is an average shortage of 78 million cubic metres dredging capacity in the country. The CCEA also cleared the fleet expansion plan of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). The public sector company will now be able to acquire 12 vessels at a cost of Rs 3,193 crore. SCI plans to acquire four Aframax Tankers of about 1,10,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) each, two large Range-II product tankers of about 95,000 DWT each and four Panamax Bulk Carriers of about 75,000 DWT each.