India eyes port in Bangladesh on lines of Chabahar

KOLKATA: Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, while appreciating Mamata Banerjee’s efforts in clearing hurdles in the way of National Highway development in West Bengal, said that work on a road-cum-rail bridge between the mainland and Sagar Island will start by December this year. This bridge, to be built by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), is a precursor to development of a port facility on the island.While the draft of the port on Sagar won’t exceed 14.5 meters, it will facilitate cargo movement to and from Bangladesh where the Government of India proposes to develop a port facility on the lines of Chabahar Port in Iran.
“So far as development of National Highways in West Bengal is concerned, I met Didi during my last visit here. She assured all assistance and I have no complaints. She has helped out a lot in removing encroachments. The problem now lies with bankers and contractors. I met bankers recently and asked them to take necessary measures,” Gadkari, who is also in charge of road transport and national highways said. The ministry had organised a video-conferencing on Friday for the minister to highlight the achievements of the last two years.
The initial expenditure for the bridge to Sagar and a jetty has been pegged at nearly Rs 4,000 crore. While the bridge will be built at a cost of Rs 2,503 crore, the jetty will cost Rs 1,511 crore. The rail-cum-road connectivity on the island is to be developed at a cost of Rs 400 crore by BhorSagar, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the Ministry of Shipping and Government of West Bengal. The SPV will work out whether to built the port facility with loans or on a Public Private Partnership mode, Gadkari said. In the first phase, it is estimated that the port facility at Sagar will be in a position to handle 7.5 million tonnes of cargo per annum.
Gadkari sounded upbeat with the deal clinched with Iran for development of the Chabahar port there. He said that the fertiliser, petroleum and other industries will benefit as the port will facilitate links with countries beyond Iran. “We can also bypass Pakistan. The distance between the Kandla Port and Chabahar is less than that between Mumbai and Delhi. Electricity in Chabahar costs about Re 1 per unit due to the availability of cheap gas. It will also open up opportunities for our industry. We have sent officials to Bangladesh for talks on developing a port in the east as well. Nothing is finalised till now but we would like to move cargo through Bangladesh to the northeastern states. Imports and exports from Bangladesh amount to nearly 6,000 million tonnes annually. Nearly 95% of this moves through road. We want this to move through water,” he said.
A source said that India is likely to help in developing the Mongla port in Bangladesh as this is close to Chittagong from where movement to the northeastern states will be easier.