Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announces major projects to boost capacity at Kandla Port with Rs 57,000-crore investment

New Delhi: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday announced major initiatives to boost capacity at Kandla Port with investment of more than Rs 57,000 crore, according to an official statement.

The two major announcements include construction of a new mega shipbuilding project with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore, according to the statement.

The other major announcement is the development of a new cargo terminal outside of Kandla creek at an investment of Rs 27,000 crore, which will add an additional 135 MTPA capacity to the Kandla Port, it stated.

Sonowal said these capacity expansion at Kandla Port is the realisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India, Make for the World' vision.

The statement said the mega shipbuilding facility at the Kandla Port will develop technical capability in the country to manufacture very large crude carrier (VLCC) or similar class of vessels with capacity of up to 3,20,000 tonnes DWT.

The facility will have the capacity to produce 32 new ships and repair 50 old ships every year. Spread over more than 8,000 acres, the new facility will have components like marina, fishing harbour, townships and marine industrial cluster, it added.

The project is likely to unlock tremendous value for trade interests as well as employment avenues in the region, especially in the ancillary manufacturing and assembly units to come and operate in the cluster, as per the statement.

On the other hand, the statement said in an attempt to restructure the port, a new state-of-the-art port is being developed outside the Kandla Creek, towards Tuna.

"This new port will be developed using the 6 km available waterfront. With an investment of Rs 27,000 crore, an additional capacity of 135 MTPA will be developed to the existing capacity of Kandla port," the statement said, adding that the new port will handle all existing cargo jetties handling dry bulk cargo, with modern cargo-handling equipment and more efficient evacuation systems.

This will allow Kandla to be converted into liquid jetties, hence, building tremendous scope to handle liquid cargo.

According to the statement, this will tremendously improve the waiting time of liquid tanker vessels and improvement in the turnaround time of liquid vessels.

Considering the new port's proximity to the navigation channel, the dredging requirement will come down considerably, allowing bigger vessels to dock here, it said.

The Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) has also been working on a number of other projects on mission mode to enhance capacity of Kandla port significantly.

A new mega cargo terminal, with a capacity of 2.19 million TEU, is being constructed at Tuna Tekra under PPP mode. A new Multi Cargo Terminal at Tuna Tekra is also under consideration. This will add 18.33 MTPA to the existing capacit, the statement said.