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The Ennore Port Ltd (EPL) has signed a 30-year concession agreement with
Bay of Bengal Gateway Terminals Pvt Ltd for the construction and development
of the Rs 1,407-crore container terminal at Ennore on a build, own and
transfer basis. Bay of Bengal Gateway Terminals is a special purpose vehicle
promoted by Grup Maritim TCB S.L, & Obrascón Huarte Lain SA, both of Spain
and UK-based Eredene Capital Plc. and Lanco Infratech Ltd.
Construction of the terminal is expected to commence in January 2011 and
the terminal will be operational in 36 months. It will be the first
container terminal in India with a continuous quay length of 1,000 meters
designed to handle the largest container ship up to the size of 14,500 TEUs
(twenty foot equivalent units) and can berth three mainline vessels
simultaneously. The terminal will have an annual handling capacity of 1.5
million TEUs.
The Ennore Port is fast developing as a multi-cargo handling port. The
government has allocated a sum of Rs 6,466 crore for the 14 projects at the
port. The funds for the most of the projects will be brought in by the
private sector. EPL will provide infrastructure at the port, availability of
sufficient depth & road and rail connectivity.
The other projects include, a general cargo berth being developed by Ennore
Port Ltd. for handling automobiles at an estimated cost of Rs 110 crore. The
project is underway and would be commissioned shortly. Besides this project,
a plan to develop the Northern Port Access Road at an estimated cost of Rs
450 crore has also been formulated. EPL would contribute Rs 78.08 crore
towards the project & NHAI would implement this project under the PPP model.
The Rs 600-crore Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) and Rs
1,655-crore Elevated Four Lane Corridor Project are planned to improve the
connectivity of Chennai and Ennore Ports for speedy transportation of cargo.
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