Inland Waterways Authority of India forays into PPP

Kolkata: Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will make its foray into Public Private Partnership (PPP) on Tuesday when it hands over the operation and management of its terminals in Kolkata to M/s Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (India) Pvt Limited (SAPEL) on a supply, operate and maintain (SOM) model.

The handing over will be done in the presence of Union Shipping Secretary Gopal Krishna at an event in Kolkata.

The terminals GR Jetty-I & BISN and GR Jetty-II of Inland Water Transport (IWT) will be handed over to SAPEL for equipping, operating and managing on a revenue sharing model. The operator will have the right to collect user fees from the users as per the tariff rates notified by IWAI.

According to IWAI Chairman Pravir Pandey, under the transactional structure worked out by International Finance Corporation (IFC), the operator will undertake the operations and maintenance services at both Kolkata and Patna clusters and invest in cargo handling equipment, container handling equipment and warehousing. The operator will also provide labour, professionals, supervisory and managerial personnel for performance of operations and maintenance services.

The proposed project will facilitate a modal shift of up to 55 percent of the potential cargo in the catchment area to IWT mode.

The existing potential of anchor cargo is of 56,000 TEUs (to/from catchment area) during the base year and expected to grow upto 2,50,000 TEUs over the next 15 years. The current handling capacity of terminal is 1.6 MT which includes bulk and break — bulk cargo. The contract will be valid for a period of 30 years. M/s SAPEL was awarded the contract in August, 2017 under a revenue sharing arrangement of 61.70 percent to itself and 38.30 percent to IWAI through a global tendering process for this work at Garden Reach Terminal in Kolkata and Gaighat and Kalughat Terminal in Patna. The transportation of trucks on vessels from BISN jetty to Sankrail on the bank and participation of private sector in operation and management of the facilities will improve the operational efficiency of the jetties.

The Kolkata terminals will also facilitate domestic bound and EXIM cargo for North Eastern Region and Bangladesh even as it will prove advantageous for shippers plying on the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.