NAVIGABLE DEPTH
IN KOLKATA AND HALDIA PORTS
For improvement of
draught in Hooghly estuary, Government has approved a proposal
for execution of River Regulatory Measures at an estimated cost
of Rs. 350.84 crores. The various components of the project include:
Capital Dredging
over Jiggerkhali Flat including Rs. 263.83 crores
Construction of Dyke
Trimming of the western
face of Nayachara Island Rs. 26.53 crores
Construction of a
guide wall at the southern end of Rs. 41.10 crores
Nayachara Island
Bank Protection work
between Sondia Column Rs. 16.64 crores
And the river Haldi
Instrumentation and
Monitoring studies Rs. 2.74 crores
Tenders for the first
two components, namely, `Capital dredging over Jiggerkhali flat
including construction of duke’ and `Trimming of the western face
of Nayachara Island’ were issued on five occasions as a single
package but had to be dischared for various reasons such as modification
of pre-qualification criteria, modification of financial turn
over criteria of tenderers, non-availability of bidders with specified
working experience using Geo-tubes for construction of dykes,
apprehension of bidders regarding reasonableness of time limit
for work. Due to its inability in freezing the techno-commercial
deviations put forward by the bidders, Kolkata Port Trust has
engaged National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai
as consultant to review/refine the project in the light of present
hydro-dynamic conditions of Hooghly estuary as well as to revise
the technical part of the tender document after finalizing the
recommendations. NIOT have already started the work of reviewing
the scheme and their report is expected by the end of December,
2002. The contract packages for third and fourth components of
the project, namely, `Construction of a guide wall as the southern
end of Nayachara Island’ and `Bank Protection work between Sondia
Column and the river Haldi’ are ready but it has been decided
to defer placement of work order till the finalisation of first
package to avoid any mismatch between major components of the
work. As such, it is not possible to complete the project by May,
2003 as envisaged earlier. Expected date of completion of the
project can be assessed after receiving the report of NIOT.
This was stated by
Shri Su. Thirunavukkarasar in a written reply to a question by
Shri Dipankar Mukherjee in Rajya Sabha today.
