CHENNAI: A new Special Economic Zone (SEZ) or a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) may be set up within the 650 acres recently acquired by the Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL), formerly the Ennore Port, with the KPL deciding to appoint a consultant to look into the proper utilisation of the land.
Speaking at an interactive session on exports organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Monday, the Chairman cum Managing Director of the KPL M A Bhaskarachar said that the port had decided on appointing a consultant to look into how to properly utilise the 647.8 acres of land that it took over from the Salt Department of the Government of India early in March this year.
“We have decided to appoint a consultant to look into how to utilise the land and one of the options we have is to set up a
SEZ or a FTZ within the property,” he said. The port acquired the land after a 12-year wait only on March 2 this year.
The CMD pointed out that the port had managed to increase the draft of the vessels it can accommodate to 14.5-15 metres from the 12 metres it was earlier by dredging the channel and the basin.
Consequently, the port can now accommodate much larger vessels.
“We hadn’t announced it earlier because of the Model Code of Conduct being in effect, but the port has increased its draft by 2 metres to 14.5 metres. The benefit to the port is huge,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the session.
“We have got a request from the Chettinad berth to dredge the berth to the same level so that they can avail of this draft. We will be awarding this dredging contract within a month and the operation will begin by June and be completed in six months,” he added.
Source : newindianexpress.com