Essar Ports Limited, a unit of the USD 20 billion Essar Group, is seeking to develop a port in Mozambique as the conduit for the exports of iron ore from an affiliate's mining assets in Zimbabwe.

Mr Rajiv Agarwal CEO & MD of Essar Ports said that "Mozambique is a mineral rich country. We are working towards signing a concession agreement for building a port in that country."

Essar Africa Holdings Limited signed an agreement with the Zimbabwe government in August 2011 to buy the steel and mining assets of the state owned Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Co and also invest USD 750 million in the project.

A senior analyst with a domestic brokerage that tracks Essar Ports said that the company's plans to enter Mozambique make commercial sense considering the investments made by Essar Group in Africa and potential investments by other groups in the continent for sourcing iron ore.

Essar Ports was created by separating the ports business from the erstwhile publicly traded Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Limited in May. The demerger also led to the formation of Essar Shipping Limited.

(Sourced from www.livemint.com)