DP World may pull out of Kulpi project in Bengal
By IANSWednesday, May 19, 2010
KOLKATA - DP World may pull out of a project to build a terminal at Kulpi on Hooghly river in West Bengal due to delays in finalising an agreement with the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) over sharing the dredging costs.
“The delay is frustrating and nothing has moved for years… it has not come to that stage but we may pull out if the issues are not settled any time soon,” DP World (subcontinent) managing director Anil Singh said on the sidelines of a seminar on port infrastructure here Wednesday.
DP World is engaged in international marine terminal operations and development, logistics and related services.
Asked if shortage of funds could be a reason for the delay, Singh said: “The project requires an investment of $200 million and we are ready with the money.”
The company had in 2004 tied up with Keventers Agro and the West Bengal government for a 600,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) terminal at Kulpi in South 24-Parganas district.
DP World has told KoPT that it would share but not shoulder the full burden of the dredging costs to maintain navigability at Kulpi.
DP World has also asked the state government to create road and rail links to the terminal, a demand that is yet to be accepted, Singh said.
The company is currently focusing on its upcoming Vallarpadam terminal at Kochi which it expects to be operational by August, Singh said. It is an one-million TEU facility.
