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Work for new port at Karaikal in full swing

Puducherry: The work on the new port at Kizhvanjur in Karaikal is in full swing and will be completed by 2009, Puducherry Minister for Health and Port E. Valsaraj averred here on Wednesday.

Mr. Valsaraj told The Hindu that a Chennai-based private company, which had been assigned the job of developing the port on a ‘build, operate and transfer basis,’ had started works relating to excavation and connecting the breakwater.

The company will operate the port initially for a 30-year period, as per the agreement, he said. The private agency, which would soon start the dredging work, had brought a dredger from China, he said.

According to port officials, the company, through its wholly owned subsidiary —Karaikal Port Private Limited — will invest around Rs. 350 crore.

As per the agreement, the company will pay 2.6 per cent of the revenue as concession fee annually for 30 years to the government, they said.

The first phase of the all-weather deep-water port will include dredging and reclamation of land and construction of two jetties, breakwaters, utility space and storage area. When asked about the modernisation plan of the Port in Puducherry, he said the Puducherry Government had recently sent a report to the Union Home Ministry for its approval.

The National Environment Engineering Research Institute, which has been asked to study the environmental impact of the proposed project, will submit its report in the next four months, he said.

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