Bloomberg reported that Gangavaram Port Ltd may borrow as much as INR 7 billion (USD 147 million) from banks to add two berths.
As per report a decision on the borrowing will be made within two to three months. Mr Pranav Choudhary CFO of Gangavaram Port said that the two berths will take 12 to 18 months to build.
According to India’s Planning Commission, Gangavaram on the country’s east coast, plans to add berths in a nation where the government forecasts sea cargo traffic will almost double to 1 billion tons by March 2012. As much as 95% of India’s global trade goes by sea and the ports require USD 20 billion of investment in the five years to March 2012.
Mr Choudhary said that “There is a lot of capacity that needs to be built in ports. He added that The additional berths will meet the ever-increasing appetite of India in the power and steel sectors to import coal.”
Mr Choudhary said that Gangavaram Port became operational in August last year. Of its five berths one is dedicated to unloading coal while another is used for iron ore and three are multipurpose berths. He added that the company has spent INR 18 billion in the first phase of construction at the port.
(Sourced from Bloomberg.net)
