Kolkata Port in Need of More Dredging

According to a study on Indian Ports, undertaken by the industry body Assocham and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the depth at Kolkata Port needs to be increased to 14 meters to facilitate bigger vessels.

“The draft in Kolkata Port is inadequate for dealing with bigger ships, the use of which is an important component in reducing costs,” it said.

This study also noted that the nation’s only riverine port is dogged by poor hinterland connections together with certain other challenges like old and inefficient c, rigid institutional framework and high tariffs that are hampering its growth.

“Kolkata Port is strategically one of India’s most significant ports with a vast hinterland comprising eastern India that includes West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, north-eastern states and two countries – Nepal and Bhutan,” Assocham national general secretary D.S. Rawat said.

The study said there is also a need to get around red-tapism and increase the pace of dredging which has been inadequate.

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Dredging Today Staff