Essar to build 3 berths for iron ore at Vizag port.

A year after it signed concession agreement Visakhapatnam Port Trust will hand over Ore Handling Complex and other facilities to Essar Vizag Terminals Ltd. (EVTL) –a wholly-owned subsidiary company of Essar Ports Ltd., for development and operation of three world-class iron ore berths.

'With the BOT operator achieving financial closure, we are waiting for it to pay upfront fee of Rs.220 crore for handing over the existing facilities. We are expecting them to take possession of the facilities next month,' Visakhapatnam Port Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu told The Hindu . The project, for which concession agreement was signed in December, 2013 is estimated to involve an investment of Rs. 1200 crore. Though it was originally estimated at Rs. 845 crore, delay resulted in escalation of cost.

Visakhapatnam Port, one of the premier ports on the East Coast, is doing exceedingly well in handling iron ore. As on January 26, it handled a throughput of 46.5 million tonnes of which 6.8 million tonnes was iron ore. The port received 55 per cent of total iron ore handled by all major ports during the financial year, which itself is a new record. As per the agreement, once the facilities are handed over the Essar, it will commence work to complete the construction and commission all three berths in three years. The three berths will have a total capacity of 23 million tonnes per annum.

Essar Ports, which has facilities at Hazira and is developing a new terminal at Paradeep, has big plans for investment in the port sector.

Visakhapatnam Port has already awarded work to expand the existing container terminal with a natural depth of 16.5 metres to Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture of DP World and United Liners Agencies of India (Pvt.) Ltd., at a cost of Rs. 633 crore.


THE HINDU