A container trans-shipment terminal, or port, is planned to cost $17,000 crores to develop at Galathea Bay of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands by the state-run Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMPK), previously the Kolkata Port Trust.
The project will be constructed by the ministry of ports, but it will be run through a public-private partnership, said SMPK Chairman PL Haranadh on January 12.
The cost of this large project, which includes the construction of a port, an airport, a power plant, and a township, is 40,000 crores. The construction of a port costing 17,000 crores is included in Phase I. Before announcing a tender, we’ll publish the EoI by the end of January to assess the market’s potential.
Currently, cargo is transshipped to larger vessels in Singapore and Sri Lanka from small vessels that depart from Kolkata, Haldia, Paradip, Vizag, Mongla, and Chittagong. Only Singapore and Sri Lanka receive the perks. We can also perform the trans-shipment there if a port of that type is built in India, which is also closer to the international sea route.
