Government not considering any alternate to Kolkata Port Trust: Shipping Secretary

KOLKATA: The central government has not thought of any alternate to Kolkata Port Trust, Shipping Secretary V Trivedi said today while allaying fears that the government was trying to choke the port by blocking dredging subsidy.

"The government has not thought of any alternate to it (KoPT)," Trivedi said at meet for inauguration of bulk cargo handling through national waterways.

He recalled the port's importance in servicing the huge hinterland and its gateway to the northeastern states despite difficulties it faced in being a riverine port.

Kopt chairman R P S Kahlon said that the port would earn Rs 4.5 crore for the movement of three million tonne of coal to NTPC.

Shipping Minister G K Vasan had said that the need for subsidy by Kopt would come down in future with the projects that it had undertaken, but till then the ministry would try to continue the subsidy.

He had said that the port had undertaken capex of Rs 12,000 crore in PPP for development of port infrastructure.