MANGALORE: The New Mangalore Port has plans to construct a lounge for cruise ships at the port at an estimated cost of Rs. 2 crore, according to P. Tamilvanan, chairman, New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT).

The NMPT had received tenders for the construction of the lounge and they were under evaluation, he said in a release here on Tuesday.

A meeting chaired by the Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways sometime ago took a decision to create facilities for cruise ships at the port. The port had requested the Union Ministry of Shipping to seek 25 per cent of the total cost of the project from the Union Ministry of Tourism.

Referring to future proposals, he said the port had the deepest inner harbour. There was potential for developing an LNG terminal, he added. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. had indicated that they were planning to establish a power plant near Mangalore and would import five million tonnes of LNG. There was a proposal to construct a dedicated jetty to handle LNG and construct tankage on approximately 100 acres of land. The cost of the project, including that of power plant, had been estimated at Rs. 2,600 crore, he said. He said that the port had plans to create bunkering facilities for ships. This would be developed under build-operate-transfer (BoT) basis. A feasibility study for the project has been undertaken. The port had sent a proposal to the Ministry for in-principle approval for inviting tender under BoT guidelines, he added.

Mr. Tamilvanan said the port also planned to set up dry dock with ship repair facilities for ocean-going vessels and floating crafts. A feasibility report was ready and the Ministry had been requested for in-principle approval to take up work under BoT basis, he added.

It had been proposed to allot land on long term basis for setting up facilities for handling iron-ore and coal behind the deep draught multipurpose berth on BoT basis.

The BoT operator would establish the facilities for handling iron-ore from the railway yard to the berth and load the ship with mechanised loaders.

In all, 11 firms were pre-qualified for the work and the due date for submission of proposals had been extended to April 28, 2006, he said.

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