A high-power committee will visit Hindustan Shipyard Limited on Saturday to assess its capability to construct submarines for the Indian Navy’s P-75 (I) project.
The eight-member committee headed by a top official arrived in the city on Friday. The visit assumes significance as HSL recently formed a consortium with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI) to stake claim to the prestigious project for construction of six submarines at a total cost of Rs.60,000 crore under P-75 (I) project.
For HSL, which was taken over by the Ministry of Defence in February, 2010 it is a ‘do or die’ battle as the yard will turn from cash-strapped to cash-surplus unit once it gets the submarine order. HSL which was founded in 1941 as a Greenfield shipyard of modern India has one of the best ecosystems for building submarines after proving its competence in refitting submarines.
After Cyclone Hudhud, it was successful in floating out INS Sindhukirti. HSL was brought under MoD with the objective to build strategic vessels and warships for Navy.
The Group of Minister, which cleared the transfer of HSL’s administrative control from Ministry of Shipping to Defence, had prohibited undertaking orders for merchant vessels. Even after transfer, HSL has not yet bagged any big order from MoD.
A senior official of HSL told The Hindu that if given an opportunity, they were in a position to construct and deliver all six submarines under P-75 (I) project. Under ‘Make in India’ campaign, the Central government has decided to encourage indigenous manufacturing for all big projects.
HSL is the only yard in India with the availability of trained manpower and contractors for submarine construction.
The yard so far built 173 vessels of various sizes including complicated drill ships, offshore patrol vessels and survey ships.
