INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Centre on Saturday will invite expressions of interest (EoI) for the development of an international container transhipment port at
Galathea Bay of Great Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal, the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways said on Friday.
The project, which is
being complemented by an airport, a power plant, and a township is estimated to cost Rs 72,000 crore
The port’s cost has been set at Rs 41,000 crore by the Centre and will be undertaken on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
Close
to 850,000 trees may have to be felled for the project.
Despite the numerous environmental issues brought to the fore during the conception
stage of the project, the Centre finally decided to go forward with it, seeing an economic opportunity in south-east Asia’s maritime
trade, it is learnt.
“Currently, nearly 75 per cent of India’s transhipped cargo is handled at ports outside India.
Colombo, Singapore
and Klang handle more than 85 per cent of this cargo
Of this 85 per cent, Colombo Port handles more than 45 per cent
Indian ports can save $200-220 million each year on transhipment cargo (with this port).
Also, developing Galathea Bay Transhipment Port
will accrue significant benefits
These are forex savings, foreign direct investment (FDI), increased economic activity at other Indian ports and enhanced logistics
It will lead to employment generation, and increased revenue share,” the ministry said.
The EoI document will be available on the website
of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata.
The project will be undertaken in four phases, with the first phase expected to be commissioned by
2028, with an estimated cost of Rs 18,000 crore
This will include construction of breakwaters, dredging, reclamation, berths, storage areas, building and utilities, procurement and
installation of equipment and development of the port colony.
While the core infrastructure will be developed by government support, the
PPP concessionaire will develop the storage area, container handling equipment and other infrastructure based on its own market and business
assessment.
However, the minimum infrastructure will have to be based on the minimum guaranteed traffic in the concession agreement.
The
private entity will be given a 30-50 year concession agreement, based on the requirement, the ministry said
It added that the concessionaire will have the rights to levy, collect, and retain charges from port users.
Several shipping majors are
expected to show interest in the project, given its geographical advantage of being close to international shipping routes and a natural
draft depth of 20 metres, implying greater efficiency in handling bigger container vessels
Moreover, a higher handling capacity would also entail transhipment business from Indian ports as well.
The mega port is envisaged to have
seven berths and 125 hectares of land for a container yard.
India, despite its size and vast coastline, has not been able to benefit from
This is due to a combination of geographical and policy-induced factors, including poor capacity handling at existing ports.
However, the
project has been mired in controversy over threat to the environment that this infrastructural intervention would entail.
Earlier this
month, a group of former civil servants reportedly wrote to President Droupadi Murmu asking her to halt the project
They said it would have irreversible consequences on the ecologically-sensitive islands.
Meanwhile, the government’s proposal of wiping
out over 13,000 acres of forests in the island with compensatory afforestation in the Aravali hills in Haryana has not been taken well
either.
Experts previously pointed out that the area had seen 444 earthquakes over the past decade and there should be a serious
reconsideration of the project.
The clearance by the environment ministry, granted in November 2022, also lacked any provisions for halting
work in the event of negative consequences
The project saw even further scrutiny from environmentalists after the serious environmental repercussions seen in Joshimath recently
