PANAJI: In a major corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) has taken a decision to mechanise the entire coal handling operations at berth No 11 which is adjacent to Vasco, said a press release.
This measure will come as a huge relief for the city of Vasco. MPT was under pressure from the Goa State Pollution Control Board, and NEERI to initiate this measure. The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has directed MPT to take urgent measures to curb coal dust pollution.
The chairman of MPT, Mr Praveen Agarwal said that in addition to the above measures, and in order to completely eliminate the coal dust pollution, henceforth the storage and handling of coal at berth No 11 will be in covered domes, and even the retrieval from the ship’s holds will be through continuous bucket and worms screw re-claimers to be conveyed by tube and pipe conveying systems to the storage domes.
He said the entire coal storage areas will be painted ‘white’ to prove that there is no pollution. The evacuation of coal from berth No 11 will be only by railway rakes, so that no portion of the coal passes via the roads of Vasco and other roads of Goa.
Requests for qualification (RFQs) were invited by MPT. In response, 13 reputed infrastructure companies, either bidding individually or in consortium with other infrastructure companies, both Indian and foreign, have submitted their RFQs. The overwhelming response to the notice inviting tenders (NIT) issued by MPT is mainly due to the fact that the country requires to import huge amounts of metallurgical and thermal coal and coke for the power plants and steel mills which are coming up in the region. Rough estimates suggest that the nation may have to import 200 million tonnes of coal by 2014-15. Most of these imports will take place at ports in southern India.
Some of the bidders are GVK, JSW Infrastructure, IL&FS, Sterlite Industries, Mundra / Adani Port Limited, Gammon Infrastructure, Punj Lloyds, Gangawaram Port Limited, and others.
The project is to be developed on a public private partnership (PPP) model, which has been a great success in the port sector. The rated capacity of the terminal is 4 MMT per annum, but if the demand increases, the terminal will be capable of handling up to 7 MMTPA, provided sufficient railway rakes are available for evacuating the imported coal.
