Posted on November 7, 2017
The Bengal government and the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) may consider an alternative location for the proposed Tajpur port to access a deeper draft to handle bigger ships and compete with the neighbouring ports.
The new site being discussed could come up 12 kilometres into the sea as opposed to a shore-based location, modelled on Shanghai in China where the deep-draft port is connected to the mainland by a bridge.
Bhor Sagar Port Ltd, the 74:26 joint venture between the CPT and the state government, will appoint a consultant to carry out a techno-economic feasibility report (TEFR) to consider the viability of the two alternative locations.
“We will float a global tender to select a consultant in 10-15 days,” Vinit Kumar, the newly appointed chairman of the CPT, said.
Initially, Crisil had prepared a report suggesting the port be built on the shore with a 12-meter draft that would require extensive dredging along a 20km channel. But the proposed draft will still be shorter than the rival ports of Dhamra and Paradip in Odisha, which provide 18-metre drafts by dredging a much shorter channel. In contrast, a 40-kilometre channel needs to be dredged for an 18-metre draft at Tajpur.
For a location inside the sea, no dredging may be required for a 12-metre draft, while only a 5-kilometre channel needs to be dredged for an 18-metre draft. However, the cost of evacuation from the on-sea location to the shore will be much higher.
The Donghai Bridge, considered as one of the longest across the sea in the world, is 32.5-kilometre long connecting the Shanghai mainland with the Yangshan deep-water port located on an island.
One of the reasons why Tajpur gained prominence over Sagar Island was the lower cost of building an evacuation infrastructure such as a rail-road bridge or an underwater tunnel.
However, the alternative on-sea location being considered for Tajpur now will require a 12-kilometre bridge compared with a 3-kilometre bridge to connect the Sagar Island with South 24-Parganas.
“Let us explore both the locations. A shore-based port will involve much less initial expenditure but may defeat the purpose what Bengal needs, a deep sea port. It is also possible that the sea-based location is found to be economically unviable. A TEFR will establish that. We must make an informed choice before creating a national asset like this,” a CPT official said.
Successive state governments had considered building a port in Bengal other than Calcutta and Haldia because heavy siltation at the river bed of Hooghly is slowly choking the ships’ ability to carry more cargo.
In contrast, maritime sector is fast leaning towards bigger ships and higher cargo to gain economy of scale.
Source: The Telegraph
