After renegotiating the project’s terms, the state-owned Deendayal Port Authority, which oversees the port in Gujarat’s Kandla, will issue a tender—its third in over two years—to construct a multipurpose cargo berth at its satellite facility in Tuna Tekra. It will use private funds of Rs 1,719.22 crore, a top official announced.
The facility was not developed in the first two efforts in public-private partnership (PPP) form for a 30-year concession period because bidders backed out because of the unfavorable terms.
According to the model concession agreement for port contracts at major ports, the royalty payout is based on the actual volumes handled in a year or on the MGC, whichever is higher.
18.33 million tons of goods (aside from liquid and containers) can be handled by the multifunctional terminal off Tuna Tekra outside of Kandla Creek. The hinterland of Northern India, which includes the landlocked states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, is served by the Kandla port.
The current Deendayal Port dry cargo berths, including the barge jetties at the Bunder Basin, Tuna, and IFFCO Barge Jetty (apart from containers), have an ideal handling capacity of 59.96 million tonnes (mt). In order to accommodate the port’s overused dry cargo handling infrastructure and continually increasing dry cargo traffic, the port authorities is looking to construct more facilities.
The traffic projection from FY 2021 to FY 2030 has been used to estimate the difference between the assigned traffic and the predicted traffic. The anticipated traffic gap is 2.85 meters by 2026 and 27.49 meters by 2030. The intended facility will be built to handle steel freight, ores and minerals, coal, food grains, fertilizers, etc.
There are now 16 cargo berths at Deendayal Port. The new berth will have a maximum draft of 15 meters and be able to accommodate ships weighing up to 100,000 deadweight tons (DWT).
