Calcutta-based IRC Natural Resources has won the contract to operate a multi modal terminal at Haldia to facilitate movement of cargo by barges through inland waterways.
The terminal on river Hooghly has an annual capacity of 3.07 million tonnes and it is expected to handle items such as fly ash, iron ore, coal, bagged fertilisers, food grains, containers, petroleum and edible oil in drums among others.
The Haldia terminal is a part of the World Bank aided Jal Marg Vikash Project for capacity augmentation of navigation from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 KM) on national waterways (NW) 1. It will also be used for export of fly ash from Bengal to Bangladesh by barges, apart from connecting Assam via NW 2.
The Anil Gupta-promoted company agreed to share Rs 105 a tonne with Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the owner of the terminal, to operate the terminal. With a group turnover of Rs 350 crore from barge movement, material handling, warehousing and port operation (it operates berth 14 at Haldia port), IRC believes it can effectively and profitably run the business, drawing on its domain knowledge.
