In order to increase its cargo handling capacity to 130 million tonnes by 2030, the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, often known as the Kolkata Port, plans to invest Rs 4000 crore, according to its chairman Rathendra Raman. As of right now, the port has a capacity of 87 million tonnes, but by 2030, it intends to raise that number to 110 million tonnes.
The chairman, Rathendra Raman, remarked that “maintaining double-digit growth, profitability, and converting the port into a green one is one of his major aims. With an investment of Rs 4,000 cr, we would boost the total cargo handling capacity to 130 million tonnes in order to assure continued growth.
Notably, the port set a financial year record with a net profit (surplus) of Rs 304 crore.
Raman listed 11 planned initiatives that will modernise and improve the infrastructure over time in order to accomplish the goal. The port moved 65.66 million tonnes of cargo during the fiscal year 2022–2023 and projected a 13% increase this fiscal year. Notably, the port set a financial year record with a net profit (surplus) of Rs 304 crore.
The Kol port purchased a Rs 450 crore outgate dock facility sprawled across 300 acres of land in the Hooghly district’s Balagarh, located 85 km upstream on the Hooghly River, in an effort to lessen pollution and congestion in the city. The port intends to pursue a PPP project (Public Private Partnership) with an investor to handle port activities, and he also indicated that Rs 98 crore has already been committed for basic infrastructure improvements.
The Balagarh project is anticipated to be a mixed-use port with the capacity to handle 85,000 containers and 1.6 million tonnes of coal. The Kol Port authorities anticipate “better cargo handling” for the Northeast region in the future as a result of the cement shipment’s successful trial journey to the northeast through Myanmar’s Sittwe Port.
Authorities from Kolkata Metro have constructed a tunnel beneath the river
Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Shipping Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister of Transport & Communications of Myanmar received the cargo on May 9 at the Sittwe Port after it was flagged off from Kolkata on May 4. The initiative to build an under-river tunnel for the passage of vehicles is still in its early stages, but the port authorities have hired a consultant to perform a feasibility evaluation for a new tunnel under the Hooghly River.
Authorities from Kolkata Metro have constructed a tunnel beneath the river. On April 12, the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation wrote history when its train travelled from Kolkata to Howrah on the opposite side of the river for the first time ever in the country through the tunnel under the Hooghly.
Additionally, Kol Port, also known as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, aimed to build Kolkata into a significant cruise hub in the eastern area by building 3 to 4 cruise terminals at an estimated cost of roughly Rs 76 cr. On a 31-acre site in Khidderpore, the project would involve improving the riverside and developing a commercial area.