Ennore port to invest Rs 27,000-mn during 11th plan

New Delhi: State-owned Ennore Port will invest Rs 2,700 crore during the eleventh five year plan on projects located near Chennai.

The new projects are to be undertaken under the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) and will include private investment of Rs 1,300 crore on a one kilometre long world class container terminal, an official release said.

The decision on the investment was taken during a review meeting held by Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu at New Delhi on July 8, it said.

The container terminal is proposed to have a quay capable of accommodating three mainline vessels of 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

'Keeping in view the new iron ore terminal under construction, the minister advised the (Ennore Port Limited) EPL to co-ordinate with the Southern Railways for early commencement of the new Puthur-Atthipattu broad gauge railway line...For which the EPL would contribute Rs 223 crore as its share,' the release said.

EPL is the 12th major port in India and the first corporate port and was set up in 2001. During 2007-08, EPL recorded a revenue of Rs 143.72 crore and a gross profit of Rs 90.14 crore.

'EPL would also invest Rs 440 crore for providing a depth of 16 metres at its new container berths and deepen the iron berth to 18 metres, along with enhancing depth in the basin to 19 metres and the entrance channel to 20 metres,' it said.

About 45 per cent work of phase I dredging for deepening of the berth area to 15 metres has been completed, the release said.