Paradip Port Trust, one of the major ports of India which is running out of space for expansion, plans to construct an island breakwater on the lines of Visakhapatnam Port with an investment of Rs 1,300 crore.
?After the Western Dock System, there is no scope for further capacity addition. So, we will go for outer harbour with construction of island breakwater with berth facilities on the leeside of the breakwater,? Paradip Port chairman K Raghuramiah told FE. He said the port is soon going to appoint a consultant for preparing the DPR (detailed project report) of the project.
The chairman said the berths on the outer harbour would enable the port to handle big vessels. The island breakwater project cost, which was estimated at Rs 800 crore in 2003-04, would be about Rs 1,300 crore at present.
The port has also initiated the construction of the Western Dock System by awarding the consultancy job to an Australian consultancy firm. The DPR, EIA (environment impact assessment) study and detailed engineering works of the Rs 2,000-crore project is under preparation now, said Raghuramiah.
Construction of the dock system became necessary as the present system has been crowded with 14 berths with a total capacity of 76 million tonne. In the present dock system, construction of four more berths is on progress.
Paradip Port, which has emerged as the top port of the country in terms of growth (22.84% against an average growth of 5% by major ports), has recently completed one RO-RO jetty for handling project cargo, one berth each for Indian Oil Corporation vessels and coast guard vessels.
Paradip port?s Rs 253.36-crore project for deepening of the channels is expected to be completed by June 2010. The new deep draught iron ore berth awarded to Blue Water Iron Ore Terminal under BOT basis would be opened for traffic from June 2010. The work of the new deep drought coal berth, awarded to Essar Paradip Terminal under BOT basis, is likely to begin from June.