According to Mr K Mohandas secretary ministry of shipping, a major hurdle to Kolkata Port Trust's much awaited Diamond Harbor container terminal project is over.

Mr Mohandas said that "The Defense Ministry has agreed to transfer about 43 acres at Diamond Harbor to Kolkata Port Trust enable the port authorities to go ahead with the proposed terminal project and in return the port authorities will provide 31.5 acres at Roychowk on the Hooghly river to Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, the shipbuilding firm under the Defense Ministry. Now, follow up action will be needed."

KoPT as the Shipping Secretary indicated has before it a proposal for an integrated container terminal project. On completion, this will give a big boost to container throughput of Kolkata port."

When contacted, ML Meena chairman of KoPT conceded that the port authorities were working on creation of an integrated container handling facility by combining the existing facilities of Kolkata Dock System (4&5 berths) and Haldia Dock (10 & 11 berths) with the proposed facility at Diamond Harbor.

The essence of the proposed scheme, as Meena explained, would be that the successful bidder for the Diamond Harbor project would be required to acquire the existing facilities by paying upfront fees. This would help him achieve proper distribution of traffic among the three facilities.

(Sourced from Business Line)