The Hindu Business Line : Mundra Port scouts for projects along Bay of Bengal

Ahmedabad, Sept 7 The Adani Group-promoted Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (MPSEZL), as part of its plans for pan-India presence, is now scouting for greenfield projects on the eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal.

The group got the concession to develop a coal handling terminal at Mormuga Port, Goa, where it plans to invest Rs 350 crore in the next two years.

The company would soon be bidding to acquire fresh concessions for ports along the eastern coast, an official said, while declining to identify the possible ports. A consortium-led by MPSEZL, the largest, multi-product private port company in India, had recently won the bid for development of a coal handling terminal at Mormugao on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

Coal terminal

“We plan to invest Rs 350 crore on developing a 300-metre-long coal terminal there to handle 7 million tonnes of coal annually, that would potentially generate around Rs 140 crore of revenue per annum,” Mr Rajeeva Ranjan Sinha, Director, MPSEZL, told Business Line. “However, we would have a total capacity of handling 10 million tonnes of coal per annum that could generate nearly Rs 200 crore annually,” he said.

The terminal is scheduled to commence operations in the fiscal 2012 and is proposed to be funded by internal accruals and debt. As part of its plans to fan out of Gujarat and make MPSEZL a pan-India port and SEZ company, in view of its experience in port development and management at Mundra, the company is now focussing on the eastern coast as well, particularly since the Adanis have coal mining interests in Orissa and also import coal from Indonesia.

“We are also participating in the Government of India’s plans under the PPP model for cargo handling and are scouting for greenfield projects in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Mr Sinha pointed out that the listed company would focus on greenfield projects to add large capacities and volumes. The Mormuga contract involves development and operation of a berth to handle about 7 million tonnes of coal a year. In the first year, it would handle 5 million tonnes and have a revenue share of 20 per cent with Mormugao Port Trust (MPT).

The volume of cargo would increase with mechanisation. The contract envisages a concession period of 30 years in accordance with a concession agreement executed recently between MPSEZL and MPT. Mormugao is a key location for handling coal for industries in and around Goa and for feeding the Bellary-Hospet region of Karnataka and southern Maharashtra.

Currently, MPSEZL is ramping up capacities to handle 50 million tonnes of coal at its terminal at Mundra with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore, besides developing a multi-purpose cargo terminal with two berths at Dahej in Bharuch district, off the Gulf of Cambay, in a joint venture with Petronet LNG Ltd.

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