Capital dredging to increase Haldia Port's navigability: Vasan

.....

'' Apart from maintenance dredging, capital dredging is also required for improvement of depth in the Haldia channel. This scheme is called River Regulatory Measures(RRM), which comprises river training works and captial dredging, '' he said during an interactive session with the members of Bharat Chamber of Commerce here today.

The revalidation study of the scheme had just been completed before being examined by the Ministry, he said.

The Planning Commission had cleared the scheme in March last. The revalidation study for reestimating the cost would go to the Public Investment Board for clearance.

The Minister said the main components of the river regulatory scheme were river training work and capital dredging at Balari bar on Hooghly river.

'' My Ministry is closely reviewing the issue of maintaining adequate draft in the main navigation channel at Haldia port, '' he said.

At present six dredgers were carrying out maintenance dredging in the Hooghly, leading to the Haldia channel, Mr Vasan said.

Rising siltation along with shoaling had dropped the Hooghly river's draught from a required 8.5 mt to below 7.5 mt. As a result, the average parcel load, which was 22,000-23,000 ton per ship, had dropped below 20,000 ton, which implied more number of ships were required for the same volume of cargo handling.

According to sources in the port, if remedial measures were not taken fast, the Haldia Port would be virtually unable to function and West Bengal would be left with only the Calcutta Port, having limited capacity.

--UNI