Rs 172-crore investment for new Haldia port terminal

4 September 2017

IMC Ltd will invest Rs 172.52 crore for a port facility at Shalukkhali (also known as Haldia Dock-II) to set up a liquid cargo handling jetty along with associated facilities. The ‘Letter of Award’ was handed over to IMC Ltd senior vice-president Vimal Chopra by G Senthilvel, deputy chairman, Haldia Dock Complex (HDC), KoPT, on Thursday. The port facility at Shalukkhali will be created on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis for a concessional period of 30 years.

The IMC Group was incorporated as the Indian Molasses Company in 1935, primarily for import and export of molasses. Since then, it has been in the business of liquid bulk and dry cargo port-based terminals, operations and maintenance services and international trading. IMC Group has facilities at the Kandla, Pipavav, JNPT, Mumbai, Goa, Karwar, Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, Kakinada, Vizag, Kolkata and Haldia ports. The combined capacity is in excess of 1 million KL to store petroleum products, liquefied gas, petrochemicals, acids and vegetable oils. At Kandla, IMC also operates a liquefied gas terminal to store butadiene and compatible gases.

“The proposed Greenfield Project of about 2.5 million-tonne annual capacity will be constructed on the west bank of river Hooghly at Shalukkhali which is about 15km northeast of HDC. IMC Ltd will invest nearly Rs 172.52 crore for setting up of this project for handling liquid commodities like POL Products, edible oils, paraxylene and LPG. The project is scheduled for completion by 2020. The proposed facility will not only increase the cargo handling capacity of HDC but will also encourage investment towards development of liquid cargo storages as well as port-based industry on the land available at Shalukkhali. It will also encourage investment in HDC and state government-owned land near Shalukkhali,” said Sanjoy Mukherjee, Sr PRO, KoPT.

KoPT has been planning to set up a port facility at Shalukkhali for over seven years now. This will primarily be a terminal for liquid cargo and ships carrying them would not have to enter the port confines of Haldia. This means that their movement would no longer be restricted by the lock at HDC which has a limit to the number of operations per day.

Source-TOI