Centre to appoint consultant for mega dredging company

Kolkata, Jun 12 (UNI) The Union government will appoint a consultant to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to study the feasibility for setting up of a mega-dredging company at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore.

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) Chairman&Managing Director S Hajara told UNI, "Global tender has been floated for appoiting a consultant soon." The consultant would prepare the DPR and submit the report within four months. The SCI Chairman said the company is also part of the consortium.

Three port trusts and two public sector companies would form a consortium to set up the company. The mega company is to be formed by Mumbai Port Trust (MPT), Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Kolkata Port Trust, and Mazagon Dock, he said.

"The proposal will go to the Union Cabinet once the DPR is ready," he added.

Presently, the Dredging Corporation of India is the only domestic company to carry out dredging and meet only ten per cent demand of the country. This has made dredging a virtual monopoly for foreign companies.

The proposed dredging company was expected to be three to four times bigger than Dredging Corporation of India as the demand for dredging was increasing with 12 major ports and 187 minor ports along the 7,517 km Indian coastline on an expansion mode.

The worldwide trend has been to go for bigger vessels to achieve economies in operation which require deep draughted ports.

The proposed dredging company would be fully owned by public sector undertakings and financed through equity participation in proportion to the share among the partners.

UNI