Rs. 1,000 crore Jaigad port by March 2012

Goa based Chowgule Group has started its Rs. 1,000 crore project work after it commenced the construction of its multi-cargo port in June last year. Jaigad port which is situated on the Konkan coast, 110 nautical miles south of Mumbai is expected to function completely by March 2012. The project will be funded on 70:30 debt-equity ratios, out of which the debt portion has already been tied-up.
 
Chowgule Ports would initially concentrate on handling bulk cargo such as sugar, bauxite and food grains and would like to develop facilities like handling container and POL cargo after some time. Larger cities like Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh and States like Maharashtra, Karnataka will be making use of this port.
 
It also believes that the company is earning good revenue from its bauxite export business and the same activity has started from its Jaigad port.
 
The promoters of the company have already invested around Rs. 200 crore and the Maharashtra Maritime Board is expected to buy 11 per cent shares in the project. Chowgule Ports already owns 270 acres of land acres and will also have a draught of 10 meters for dead weight tonnage (dwt) which can handle a capacity of around 40,000 to 50,000 dead ships. Apart from this, a ship repair facility for vessels up to 10,000 dwt will be built. A total of six ships can be repaired at the same time there.
 
As of now the export items such as mangoes and fishes are first sent to Mumbai and then they are exported to other places. With the Operationalisation of Jaigad port, the regional exporters will be able to export such products at their door step. They will fill the containers in their own backyards and directly export the products to other ports, which will be a huge cost savings.
 
Besides, the Chowgule group is also seeing good business from export of bauxite. The export of bauxite which has picked up in the last seven years from Konkan, will become more viable once the port is commissioned.

8