In a bid to make two of its major infrastructure projects attractive, the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) has altered some of the key parameters and has forwarded the proposals to the Shipping Ministry.
The alteration has been proposed as ChPT could not find a partner on this front for the last one year, even as its competitors in the East Coast made substantial progress.
On Thursday, the Board of Trustees of ChPT passed resolutions pertaining to the Rs.5,100-crore outer harbour project, and converting the existing Jawahar Dock into a multi-cargo terminal at an investment of Rs.460 crore.
Till recently, Jawahar Dock was handling coal. It has been lying idle for the last three years in the wake of a directive from the Madras High Court that banned ChPT from handling dusty cargoes. Since then, coal consignments had moved to Kamarajar Port.
For the ChPT outer harbour project, the board had suggested developing it in phases, constructing quay and berths one by one, reducing the Minimum Throughput Guarantee for cargoes.
Talking to The Hindu , ChPT Chairman Atulya Misra said: “No doubt, we have lost sometime in finding partners. But, we have not abandoned these projects. We are looking for those who can provide us good returns, and, hence, some changes have been made.”
Originally, the cost of outer harbour was Rs.3,686 crore, and it was meant to handle containers alone. But now, it would handle all types of commodities, cargoes and containers, he said.
