The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) has identified new locations along the Hooghly River for creating additional cargo handling facilities.

“The proposed facilities will be created on the river front to avoid the problems currently being experienced in the existing berths within the impounded dock system”, Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman of KoPT, told Business Line here on Monday.

“The ship movement in and out of the impounded dock system depends a good deal on the tide in the river and since the number of tides is limited, not many movements can take place with the result there is a bunching of ships and the consequent detention of vessels”.

For free ship movements

The locations identified include about 150 acres at a place called Jiggerkhali. The length of the land on the river front would be about one km sufficient for construction of four to five berths depending on the length of each berth. The land belongs to the West Bengal Government which is being approached for an early transfer.

connectivity

The prospect of connectivity to the land too appears to be good. Some roads are already there while rail connectivity is a distinct possibility as a private sector power plant, complete with railway links to facilitate coal movement, is coming up in the vicinity.

Kukrahati is another location which too has been identified for probable construction of a barge jetty. About 40 acres of land belonging to the Haldia Development Authority is already there, with another 100-150 acres being available adjacent to it and the adjacent land could be developed for back-up facilities for the proposed jetties, it is felt.

Draught

The draught in the river in both the locations being around nine metres, it should be possible to handle vessels with larger average parcel loads, Dr Chanda said.

Asked if the earlier plans to construct two waterfront jetties at Haldia had been abandoned, Dr Chanda replied that while the detailed project for one of them was in progress, the location for the other was being re-examined as identified location suffered from draught restriction.

The KoPT Chairman firmly denied that the new locations on the river front were being explored in view of uncertainty over the much talked-about Diamond Harbour jetties. “There is no uncertainty over the Diamond Harbour project which is on track”, Dr Chanda added.

Date : 20/01/2009

Courtesy : Businessline