The Indian government's cabinet committee on infrastructure has approved a project for the development of a single point mooring arrangement (SPM) for the port of Kandla, with an estimated cost of USD120 million.
Under the project, allied facilities will be built at Kandla Port for the import of crude oil off Veera in the Gulf of Kutch. The project will proceed on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis over a period of 30 years.
Kandla Port is strategically placed to function as the gateway to Western and Northern India, particularly for the importation of crude oil. There are several refineries in north western India that require support facilities like SPMs, the government statement said.
The expansion of existing refineries in the northern and western Regions is expected to create additional demand for SPM facilities for ports on the west coast and proposes to capture this incremental demand.
The SPM project will enable the Kandla Port Trust to enhance its capacity by 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), taking the total cargo handling capacity of the port to 104MTPA. This will also augment the energy security of the country.
The port of Kandla special economic zone (SEZ) is the biggest multiple-product SEZ in the country, covering an area of over 310 hectares. It is India's hub for exporting grains and importing oil and one of the nation's highest-earning ports.
Located on the Gulf of Kutch, Kandla is one of the major seaports on the west coast of the state of Gujarat. The port was constructed in the 1950s as the chief seaport serving western India, after the partition of India from Pakistan left the port of Karachi in Pakistan.
J Kanojia