Thursday, March 24, 2011

Adanis to invest Rs 300 cr in coal import terminal at Vizag


Import terminal: A file picture of a crane unloading coal from a ship at the Adani cargo port at Dahej in Gujarat.
Import terminal: A file picture of a crane unloading coal from a ship at the Adani cargo port at Dahej in Gujarat.

After Gujarat and Goa, the Adani Group's port development arm will now expand operations to the east coast of India where it will invest over Rs 300 crore on setting up a 6.5 million tonnes a year (mtpa) coal import terminal at Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh.

The Adani Group-promoted Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (MPSEZL), India's largest private multi-port operator and a subsidiary of the flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd, leading infrastructure conglomerate, has won a bid to develop a coal import terminal at Visakhapatnam, marking the entry of MPSEZL on the eastern coast, a company spokesman said here on Tuesday.

MPSEZL has been selected by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust to develop the coal import terminal.

This selection was through a competitive bidding process to design, build, finance, operate and transfer Berth East Quay–1, which will be designed to handle imported coal volumes of approximately 6.5 mtpa.

The company plans to build and commission the terminal within 24 months.

Strategic location

The Visakhapatnam port is a strategic port for coal imports to feed the local industries and power plants located in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and eastern Maharashtra.

This port has strategic importance and is in line with long-term business plans of the Group, said Mr Gautam Adani, Chairman.

The contract to set up the berth on the Vishakhapatnam port is in line with the Group's objective of having a pan-India presence.

The Mundra port is India's largest privately-owned and operated port, and is among the 10 largest Indian ports in cargo handling volumes.

It handled around 40 mtpa of cargo in 2009-10 and is targeting 50 mtpa during the current year.

MPSEZL currently operates ports at Mundra and Dahej and is developing a port at Hazira and coal terminals at Mundra, Goa, and now Visakhapatnam.

Its international forays include port development in Australia and Indonesia. By 2020, the company is targeting to handle 200 mtpa cargo volumes.

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