Five companies have been shortlisted for the final stage of bidding for a new dedicated container terminal at Kolkata Port Trust's (KPT) Diamond Harbour.The tender process is now expected to be finalised in 2-3 months for the Rs 1,500-crore (US$251 million) PPP project.

The companies which have made it to the final stage are:

• Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd,
• APM Terminal BV,
• Consortium of Concast Infratech Ltd and Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co Ltd,
• Consortium of IL&FS Maritime Infrastructure and Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd and
• Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd.

The existing terminal currently handles around 470,000 TEUs and says extra capacity is needed for expected demand of 7-800,000 TEU.

The project is likely to take around two years to complete giving a capacity of nearly 1.2 million TEUs a year. The new terminal will comprise 900-metre quay length able to handle two container ships at a time.

The port is India's only riverine port and faces major challenges with inadequate draft preventing larger vessels being able to access the port.

Other port infrastructure projects planned include expanding the Haldia Dock complex to cater for a higher volume of primarily coal, coking coal and iron ore traffic and establishing port facilities at Sagar Island able to handle 13.5m drafted vessels.

Source: Kolkata Port Trust