Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003
Wednesday, Apr 23, 2003 |
| Business | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Business
By Our Staff Reporter
Seeking to shed its image of being just a coal port, Ennore Port (EPL) has chalked out development plans, which are expected to attract private investment of over Rs. 1,000 crores. The port would also begin dredging work to increase the draft to 18 metres from December, said M. Raman, EPL Chairman and Managing Director. Addressing a press conference on the performance of the country's first corporatised port, in its first full year of commercial operations, he said the facility handled 154 vessels and over 8 million tonnes of coal in 2002-03. In terms of the financial, the port incurred a loss of Rs. 2.78 crores against Rs. 35.94 crores in the previous fiscal, while its gross profit was Rs. 67.80 crores. Detailing the development plans, Mr. Raman said in tune with the objective of making it an energy port, three terminals have been proposed and scheduled for completion in 2005. Facilitating iron ore exports — the proposed berth was for handling 12-20 million tonnes — through the port would be new alignment proposed by the Southern Railways between Puttur and Atipattu via Periyapalayam, by-passing the present circuitous Tiruvallur-Arakkonam route. In the event of any delay to the new rail route that would substantially reduce the freight cost, EPL would consider promoting the alignment-project through a special purpose vehicle in which the railways and the exporters would be other stakeholders. The estimated cost for the 81-km rail line would be around Rs. 170 crores. Noting that EPL, which operates the port on the landlord concept, was in dialogue with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) for setting up an LNG terminal, besides creating a special economic zone (SEZ) in Ennore, Mr. Raman said the port by 2006-07 would be handling 40 million tonnes of bulk cargo. The port, he added, had initiated financial restructuring by substituting high cost loans with those of lower interest rates. The initiatives, he added, would result in an annual savings of about Rs. 20 crores in interest payments.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
