Kolkata, Nov 10 (IANS): The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) expects to achieve around 8 per cent growth in traffic handling to 55 million tonnes by the end of the current fiscal, an official said on Friday.

"Upto October 31 (in the current fiscal), we have handled 32 mt of traffic both in Haldia Dock and Kolkata dock system as against 28 mt in the corresponding period last year," KoPT Chairman Vinit Kumar said.

"The port is expected to handle 55 mt of traffic by the end of this fiscal (2017-18 or FY18) as compared to around 51 mt of traffic handled last year," he said on the sidelines of an event organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The port had handled 27.565 mt of traffic in April to September, higher than 24.623 mt in the same period last year, recording a growth of 12 per cent, much more than the average growth rate of 3.24 per cent clocked by major Indian ports.

He also said the port was working with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras for a new arrangement for dumping the dredged material.

"When it accumulates silt, the dredger has to go around 13 nautical miles away to drop the silt and return. In this process, almost three hours are wasted. We are planning to dump this on Nayachar Island (in Hooghly river).

"We have requested the state (West Bengal) government for permission and we are finalising this scheme with IIT Madras, wherein there will be a pipeline kind of structure, where vessels can dump the silt, from where it will go to the island," he added.