Haldia Dock awards multipurpose berth contract

Kolkata: Simplex Infrastructure Ltd (formerly Simplex Concrete Piles Ltd) has bagged the order for construction of a multipurpose berth (No. 13) at Haldia dock. The job involves construction of a 250-metre-long berth and development of a back-up area of about 14,000 square metres.

Estimated to cost Rs 22.5 crore, the berth has to be ready for operation within 19 months, though the dock sources believe that the work should be over within 15 months or so.

It might be noted that Haldia dock authorities recently awarded the contract to ITD Cementation (formerly Skanska) for construction of yet another multipurpose berth (No. 2) within the dock.

Estimated to cost Rs 24.5 crore, the job would involve construction of a 260-metre-long berth and development of back-up area of about 14,000 sq m.

However, according to dock sources, the total cost to make the berth ready for full-fledged operations might be around Rs 46.8 crore, as there is a proposal to construct a Railway siding adjacent to the berth and to develop an additional storage area of about 50,000 sq m.

The civil construction of the berth is expected to be over by the end of this year.

Once these two berths become operational, the number of berths within the impounded dock will rise to 14.

There are, however, three additional berths - oil jetties 1, 2, and 3 - located outside the dock on the riverfront for handling crude, petroleum products, and chemicals.

There is a proposal to construct two more berths on the riverfront - one for handling barges and smaller vessels and one as a multipurpose berth.

According to dock sources, it would be more than six months before the work orders could be issued for the construction of the proposed berths on the riverfront.

The report submitted by the Pune-based Central Water & Power Research Station on what should be alignment of the berths with the river is being examined, while environment clearance is awaited.

The earliest the tenders could be floated would be around June-July, the sources said