West Bengal: Govt seeks fresh bids for Tajpur port

Initially, the state government wanted the port to be developed with the help of the Centre. However, the Centre did not show interest in building a deep sea port at Tajpur and then the state Government decided to go it alone and build a greenfield port there.

To make the Tajpur port proposal lucrative for interested bidders, the government offered a chunk of 1,000 acres that is “encumbrance-free”. A senior official of Industry department said, “It became possible after a land swap between the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Co (WBSEDCL). This is a big boost and lucrative offer for the global bidding now.”

However, the developer will have to get at least three crucial clearances from the Centre. The developer will have to get environment clearance, rail connectivity and use of river channel to bring ships which river channel belongs to Calcutta port which is under shipping ministry.

The developer will be given the flexibility to design the port and fix the tariff, according to the guidelines laid down by the agency. In the earlier bidding exercise Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) and DP World of Dubai had shown interest. The officer said, “This time we are expecting more global port developer like Adani and many more will be shown interest.”

The Government announced that, final date of submission of bid is December 20. Before that, a pre-bid meeting will be held on November 12 and bid submission process will start from November 22.

However, developing a greenfield port is always a challenge and in the case of a location such as Tajpur, it is a major challenge. At Tajpur, the natural deep draft not available at the shore and it is only available 20 kilometer inside the sea. So, the developer may have to build a port inside the sea. The developer also can create a channel which will navigate the large ships to the shore. In case of create a channel, there will be recurring cost for
maintaining and dredging the channel.