Spiking of captive jetty project raises eyebrows

The sudden announcement of spiking the proposal to construct a captive jetty by Visakhapatnam Steel Plant two years after it had been mooted by then Union Steel Secretary D.R.S. Chaudhary has caught many unawares.

The assertion by Steel Secretary G. Mohan Kumar during his visit to the city on Wednesday that there was no need for a captive jetty for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, when a minor port had come up on its backyard, has set off speculation that due to pressure from certain quarters, permission had been denied for construction of a captive jetty.

“We are surprised at the decision as RINL, the corporate entity of VSP, has its own land to have a captive jetty to handle import of coal and limestone and export of finished products. At least, the Gangavaram port, which has been developed in PPP format, should allot us a captive berth,” AITUC leader D. Adinarayana said.

Sources told The Hindu that that RINL was in the process of signing a long-term cargo handling agreement with Gangavaram port after the efforts by the port management to clinch such a deal had failed following protests and resignation by Independent Director Jagatpal in 2010.

Sources confirmed that RINL board of directors, which met sometime ago, gave its stamp of approval to go ahead with the agreement as it would provide freight advantage over the Visakhapatnam port.

RITES study

On the other hand, RINL also went to the extent of engaging RITES for conducting a feasibility study on construction of captive jetty. After positive finding, RINL management also had gone on record that once they obtained clearance from the authorities, they would construct captive jetty with a capacity to handle 10 to 15 million tonnes at an estimated investment of Rs.1,000 crore.

Incidentally, most of the land where Gangavaram Port had come up belonged to RINL. Indian Ports Association had also recommended that to achieve the designed capacity of 10 million tonnes, the VSP should have captive port. However, due to political pressure, RINL had to alienate its land for construction of port by Gangavaram Port Ltd in PPP mode.