CAPITAL DREDGING AT HALDIA PORT

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RAJYA SABHA

The capital dredging is pending at Haldia port in West Bengal under the river regulatory scheme. The tenders for the major components of the scheme, namely, ‘capital dredging over Jiggerkhali Flat including construction of Dyke and trimming of western face of Naychara Island’ were issued on 5 occasions but could not be finalized because of unwillingness of intending bidders to accept maintenance dredging for one year in the newly dredge cut channel, apprehension of bidders that they would not be able to guarantee the required depth within the estimated limit of quantity of dredging as well as possibility of failure to dredge and sustain the channel within the proposed alignment etc. Thus, the techno-commercial offers could not be frozen and assessed over a common evaluating platform. Hence the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai has been engaged by Kolkata Port Trust to prepare report on river regulatory measures taking into account the latest hydro-dynamic and bathymetric conditions of the target area of the Hooghly River and its estuary. The report of NIOT was due in August 2003 and the entire project would be reviewed after receipt of the report of NIOT. This was stated by Shri Dilipkumar Mansukhlal Gandhi, Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping in a written reply to Shri Tarni Kanta Roy in Rajya Sabha today.