Adani Group Committed To Tajpur Port, Environmental Study On Project To Begin Soon

The Rs 25,000 crore Tajpur deep sea port in West Bengal is well on track and Adani Group is gearing up to start environmental studies for setting up the project this monsoon.

This was disclosed by Adani Group CEO (ports) Subrat Tripathi on Monday (14 August) during an industry event in Delhi.

Questions have been raised about the future of this big-ticket project, after US short-seller Hindenburg Research published a damaging report on 24 January this year alleging the port-to-power conglomerate's involvement in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud” over the decades, also flagging its “substantial debt”.

The West Bengal government had handed over the Letter of Intent (LOI) for the development of the port to Karan Adani, CEO, of Adani Ports, on 12 October 2022 during a Bijaya Sammilani event where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present.

The State government had floated ‘Request for Qualification cum Request for Proposal document (RFQ cum RFP)’ for development of the proposed port in October 2021.

“Following the technical and financial evaluation and completion of all formalities, the Cabinet accorded approval for Issuance of Letter of Intent by the West Bengal Maritime Board for development of the Tajpur port to the successful bidder,” a press statement by the State government had said then.

The company is now waiting for completion of statutory formalities, such as the the LOA (letter of agreement) from the state, the CEO added.

“We have the LOI (letter of intent). Now, we need the LOA. On getting the LOA from the Bengal government, we shall proceed for environment clearances for which studies will have to be initiated. We want to begin the studies this monsoon,” Tripathi added.

Further, in an apparent show of commitment, the CEO said that the group has kept funds aside for developing the Tajpur port.

Deep draft port

The Port is proposed to be located near Tajpur, 5 km from NH-116B and around 170 km from the state capital, Kolkata.

It is all-weather deep seaport with a draft of 12.1 m with 18 km channel and with tidal support of 3.9 m, leading to a net 16m draft facility enabling large cape size vessels of one lakh deadweight tonnage.

The investment in the project involves Rs 15,000 crore while related port-led infrastructure development would involve another Rs 10,000 crore. It is expected to create 25,000 direct jobs and more than one lakh indirect jobs.

The government of Bengal is currently in the process of obtaining specific security clearances for the proposed port from ministries like defence and others, after which, it is expected to sign the agreement.

Also Read: Explained: Significance Of Tajpur Port For West Bengal And Eastern Coast