Gujarat speeds up port development

If you want to see a quiet infrastructure revolution, hit the ports of Gujarat. The government has invited private participation in developing five ports there.

If you want to see a quiet infrastructure revolution, hit the ports of Gujarat. The government has invited private participation in developing five ports there. This is besides the three existing ports of Pipavav, Hazira and Adani Mundra and the Dholera and Positra being developed by private entrepreneurs. Altogether, this takes the total number of private ports to nine.

Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), the nodal agency, is shortlisting proposals for five greenfield ports to be developed on BOOT (build, operate, own and transfer) basis.

According to GMB, it has received more than 15 proposals for each site from private developers. The ports to be developed by private players are Maroli, a virgin site on the Valsad coast in south Gujarat; Simar on Saurashtra coast; Mithivirdi, located 10 km north of Alang ship breaking yard; Vansi Boarsi, 30 km south of Surat and Bedi Bunder, 13 km from Jamnagar in Gulf of Kutch.

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“We have formed a committee to scrutinise the proposals and shortlist three to four proposals per site,” said GMB CEO H.K. Das.

GMB has also marked the sites for industry specific port development.

Simar, with investment of Rs 2,100 crore in the first phase, is to be developed as “power port” because mainly coal and LNG would be handled at the port while Mithivirdi would be developed for steel products, iron plates and some automobile products. Mithivirdi would be developed with initial investment of around Rs 500 crore.

Similarly, Vansi-Borsi has been marked as petroleum and liquid chemical port to cater to major petroleum, chemical and automobile industry in the region. Vansi-Borasi would require investment to the tune of Rs 450 crore.

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Another site to be develped in South Gujarat is Maroli, which has been identified as industrial port coal, clinker/cement, containers, LNG and general cargo would be handled.

A new Bedi port would also be developed as a ‘Greefield’ port where mainly agricultural products, castor oil and petroleum cokes would be handled. According to GMB estimates, the project will need Rs 495 crore as initial investment.

According to Das, L&T, Simplex Infrastructure, Nirma, Sterlite Group, Ashapura Logistics, ABG Shipyards, Essar, Today Home and Infrastructre, Shaponji Palanji, DLF and SAL Steel have shown interest.

“The five ports would bring in total around Rs 4,000 crore investment in the state while most of the ports would become operational in 2010 as port development requires long gestation period,” he said, adding, “GMB aims to attract more than Rs 20,000 crore investment by 2010.