Deepwater port coming up at Puducherry by 2014

Kolkata, Nov 2 (UNI) Subhash Group, India's leading engineering, construction and project management companies, today announced its maiden foray into the port sector with a view to converting the small shallow water port in Puducherry into a deepwater port to handle container, general, bulk and liquid cargoes.

At a cost of about Rs 2,100 crore with a mixture of equity and debt, a Special Purpose Vehicle "Pondicherry Port Ltd" (PPL) has been floated in this regard having a 50:50 joint venture between Subhash projects and Marketing Limited(SPML) and Om Metals Infra projects Limited.

Detailng the project, the company sources here today said the port would be developed in four phases by 2014 and would have three container berths-one general cargo, one liquid cargo and one bulk cargo berth- and a cruise terminal. It would provide direct and indirect employment to over 10,000 people.

Quoting Subhas Group Chiarman Anil Sethi the sources said in the wake of an increased shortfall in capacity in southern Indian ports for all major commodities by 2014, the port would not only meet this capacity gap, but would also cater to an exponentially higher additional capacity.

"Our vision is to provide the most efficient facilities and top the features at the Singapore port," Mr Sethi said adding that the main challenge was to complete the port on time and the first liner was expected to arrive by 2010.

PPL recently signed a concession agreement with Government of Puducherry (GoP) for 30 years and it is extendable by another 20 years. UK based Halcrow, one of the largest port consultants, have prepared a Detailed Project Report, which has been cleared by the GoP.

"Strategically placed between Chennai and Tuticorin, this port will boost the trade and travel from the India's East coast. The completion of Sethusamudram Canal will reduce the distance by 780 kms. It will also reduce the sailing time for ships sailing from or to India's west coast, Middle East, Europe and America by 30 hours," Mr. Sethi added.

"It would be a big boon for the trading community as this port will have state-of-the-art facility and the downtime will get reduced considerably. Moreover, this port is well connected by roads and railway network is available up to Puducherry port. The port also has close proximity to industrial areas of Salem, Erode, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Madurai etc and to countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. Our plans, fundamentally, will change the entire economy of Puducherry," Mr. Sethi attested.

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