A Concession Agreement was on Saturday signed here between the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) and the Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt ltd (PICT), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the United liner Agencies India Pvt ltd. which is part of the JM Baxi Group, for construction/development of a multipurpose berth through public-private participation (PPP) Mode on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis to cater to the container traffic and clean cargo at the Paradip Port.
The agreement was signed by PPT Chairman MT Krishna Babu and Dhruv Krishna Kotak of PICT. The PICT became successful as the operator for this terminal after being selected through a competitive bidding process. The concessionaire shall be responsible for financing, designing, construction, commissioning of the project along with operation, management and maintenance under the concession agreement. The concession period is 30 years.
The estimated cost is Rs 430.78 crore keeping with a construction period of three years. Of this, Rs 356.54 crore is the BOT operator’s component and Rs. 74.24 crore the PPT’S component towards capital dredging. On completion of construction, 5 MT of cargo per annum will be added to the port’s capacity. The draught of the proposed berth will be 16 mtr with a length of 450 mtr facilitating handling of cape size vessels up to 1,25,000 DWT. The Berth will be equipped with modern and efficient machineries to handle non-hazardous and dust-free cargoes.
A separate rail siding is envisaged for the berth where rail loading/unloading of both containers and other clean cargo can take place. This will enhance the project’s viability by attracting rail-borne cargo. The project is to be developed at new location, on the southern side where the area will not be mixed up with other cargoes. This will attract clean cargo and containers to come to the port in view of the rapid industrialisation of the port’s hinterland.