Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which handles about 60 percent of India’s container traffic, has decided to unlock its land holdings and set up a special economic zone (SEZ), which would boost traffic flow into the port.

JNPT has floated a tender, inviting expression of interest (EoI) bids for a consultant to advise it on creation of the proposed port-based SEZ. The consultant will be preparing a master plan and undertake detailed engineering for a “developable land” measuring 1,200 hectares.

The port had originally acquired about 2,500 hectares for setting up the facility, which was commissioned for commercial operations in 1989. It currently handles about 50 million tonnes of cargo throughput.

After having allotted part of its land holdings to private companies on lease, the port is now planning to use the balance land for activities such as container freight station (CFSs), empty container yards, warehousing, cold storages, tank farms and tanker terminals. As part of its plans to use its land holdings for port-related activities, JNPT now plans to set up a SEZ.

The consultant will have to formulate an appropriate planning concept and formulate a master plan for development of the SEZ, which should have a synergy with the port operations.

“The components of the master plan may deal with allocation for processing and non-processing area, industrial area planning and commercial area planning. The consultant will primarily advise the port on the types of businesses best suited for the proposed SEZ and will assist the port,” JNPT said in its EoI tender.

Apart from the proposed SEZ, the port is having on its drawing board several capacity expansion programmes.

It has been estimated that the port would be required to handle container traffic of 8 million TEUs by 2015-16.

It plans to extend its container berth to accommodate larger sized container vessels, which will involve an investment of Rs 600 crore.

Further, it plans to develop a fourth container terminal at a cost of about Rs 3,000 crore and deepen its main harbour channel for accommodating 14-metre draught vessels (or 6,000 TEU capacity container ships).

Mr. Divya Aggarwal

Money Management Consultants Ltd

Senior Copy Editor, Money Management Consultants Ltd
New Delhi, India

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