RailEnquiry

BRUSSELS: Belgium today assured Indian President Pranab Mukherjee it would look into his suggestion for help in developing a new port near Kolkata as the two sides discussed cooperation in new areas like port management.

The President intervened during delegation-level talks with Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and asked if an arrangement could be worked out for helping the Kolkata Port Trust develop port facilities at Sagar Island, located 80 nautical miles south of Kolkata.

The Belgian side it would consider Mukherjee's suggestion. New areas of cooperation discussed by the two countries included collaboration in ports given Belgium's expertise in managing riverine ports, officials said.

Shipping Minister G K Vasan asked Indian Ambassador Dinkar Khullar and P S Raghavan, Special Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, to follow up the President's suggestion to see if Belgian dredging companies could be roped in for project near Kolkata.

Khullar, Raghavan and Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President, told reporters that officials had been "asked to take the discussions forward".

Kolkata Port, India's only major riverine port, has two dock systems at Kolkata and Haldia. Both systems currently handle around 55 million tons of cargo but due to draft restrictions, large vessels have to offload at other neighbouring ports.

To attract more ships and to expand business in view of increased industrial activity that is expected to generate around 60 million tons of additional traffic by 2021-22, Kolkata Port Trust plans to develop port facilities at Sagar Island.

The Centre provides hundreds of crores of rupees to Kolkata Port Trust for maintenance and dredging operations. Despite this help, the port has been experiencing depleting drafts that have compelled shipping lines to reduce cargo loads, resulting in sizeable business losses.

India also sought movement on a project to upgrade three railway facilities - Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai, a railway station in Nagpur and another in Dehradun.

This work will be executed by Belgian companies with expertise in upgrading railway stations without disrupting normal traffic, Raghavan said.