Kolkata, Jul 13 (IANS): Operations at six of the 18 berths at the 131-year-old Kidderpore Docks here will now be handled by a private operator.

This is as per a Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement inked between the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (SMP), Kolkata and Century Ports Ltd (CPL) recently. The six berths have been leased out to the private operator for 30 years on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. Under this scheme, called 'Rejuvenation of Kidderpore Docks (Dock-1 West)', SMP, Kolkata will receive Rs 181.81 crore from CPL.

CPL, in turn, will rejuvenate the six berths in two phases. This rejuvenation period for each phase has been decided at 18 months.The break up of the revenue received by the SMP is Rs 95.66 crore for Phase-I and Rs 86.15 crore for Phase-II. The capacity of the project under Phase-I will be 3 MMTA and 2.48 MMTA. Apart from containers, these berths can handle cargo like finished fertilisers, foodgrains, iron and steel products, aluminium ingots, pig iron, sugar, and limestone.This arrangement is in keeping with the SMP's plans to take over the role of a landlord and lease its assets to private operators for the induction of equipment and professional handling of cargo.

SMP, Kolkata, had been planning this for long and had even got a techno-feasibility report prepared in 2020. Under Phase-I berths 2, 4 and 6 will undergo modernisation. The continuous berths 4 and 6 have a length of 254 metres. In the second phase, berths 8, 10, and 12 will be rejuvenated. The length of the continuous berths 8 and 10 is 289 metres. Both continuous berths 4 and 6 as well as 8 and 10 will be able to accommodate a container vessel each of length 158 metres. Berths 2 and 12 are 162 metres and 143 metres long, respectively. They can easily handle barges carrying cargo such as pulses, fertilisers and limestone.

Among those present when the agreement was signed were SMP Chairman Rathindra Raman, CPL Director Ashutosh Jaiswal, and Kolkata Docks System, SMP, Deputy Chairman Samrat Rahi. Senior officials have not written off the possibility of leasing out more berths for greater efficiency and better revenues.