India to export $150 mn rails for Chabahar port next month

"The maiden consignment of rail from India worth $150 million would be sent to Iran in July," a top official said after Ambassador of Iran to India Gholamreza Ansari called on Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday.

The consignment of rails will be shipped by steel companies, the official said, adding that both Gadkari and Ansari deliberated on taking further the historic pact between the nations on the strategic Chabahar Port in southern Iran which will give India access to Afghanistan and Europe bypassing Pakistan.

Earlier this week Gadkari had said that India would be able to save Rs 45,000 crore per annum on urea if it sets up a plant at Chabahar in Iran, negotiations for which are on to get gas on lower price adding that Iran has cheap natural gas and talks are on to get gas at less than $2 per mmBtu.

India Ports Global Pvt, a joint venture of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and the Kandla Port Trust, will invest $85 million in developing two container berths with a length of 640 metres and three multi cargo berths. The Indian joint venture company will invest more than $85.2 million in development of the port. India’s Exim Bank will provide a credit line of another $150 million.

Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Baluchistan Province on Iran’s southern coast, is of great strategic utility for India. It lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western coast. The port project will be the first overseas venture for an Indian state-owned port. The Jawaharlal Nehru port, India’s biggest container port, holds a 60 per cent stake in Indian Ports Global while the Kandla port has the remaining 40 per cent.