KOLKATA: The industrial corridor from Amritsar that was originally planned up to Dankuni will now connect the Sagar port, shipping secretary Vidyapati Trivedi said in Kolkata on Monday. This industrial corridor is patterned on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and will use the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) as a backbone. The industrial corridor from Amritsar will also leverage the inland waterway system being developed along National Waterway-I that extends from Allahabad to Haldia.
"The Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata (now Sagar) Industrial Corridor will cover the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. This is one of the most densely populated regions in the world where nearly 40% of India's population resides. This is also the region that needs a major push for industrialization and job creation. The Centre is expected to provide a support of Rs 5,749 crore over a period of 15 years for this corridor," an official said.
"There is no alternative to the ports of Kolkata and Haldia. After all, these ports handle cargo for the entire eastern and northeastern region of the country. The draught situation at Haldia is a problem though. That is why, projects like Haldia Dock-II and Sagar have been planned. The industrial corridor from Amritsar will also connect to Sagar," Trivedi said.
By mid-2014, the shipping ministry and Kolkata Port Trust will also finalize the agency that will build the deep-draughted port at Sagar, shipping minister G K Vasan said during the day. If this happens, the first phase of the port — the first deep-draughted one in West Bengal — is likely to become operational by the end of 2019, officials believe. This will solve a number of problems for the state and the Centre. While the port will boost much needed industrial growth in West Bengal, the Centre can also cut down on dredging subsidy that it needs to bear to maintain the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC). The annual dredging subsidy comes to around Rs 400 crore per annum.
"So far as the shipping ministry is concerned, we don't want any port to suffer. However, a decision has been taken to bring down the dredging subsidy. This will happen as more downstream projects develop. We hope to finalize the contract for the Sagar port latest by mid-2014. It will take a few more years for the facility to come up. So much expense for dredging will no longer be required after that," Vasan said.
"Between April and September this year, there has been a growth of 5.4% in the cargo handled by Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT). Capacity utilization of berths at the two ports of Kolkata and Haldia is about 62.5%. What is most encouraging is the Rs 12,000 crore investment commitment that has come in for this port facility," the shipping minister said. Of this Rs 12,000 crore, Rs 7,851 crore will be the cost for the port at Sagar where 55 million tonnes of cargo will be handled by 2019-20.
Source:- timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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