Kolkata Port, or Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port has appointed Rodic Consultant to carry out a techno-feasibility study for a tunnel under Hooghly river connecting Kolkata and Howrah cities, informed Vinit Kumar, the port chairman.
“The proposed tunnel if constructed will be the second such tunnel and downstream of the one by East-West Metro Railway, which is the first of its kind in the country,” he said.
The proposed tunnel will help the cargo loaded trucks of the port to move swiftly without hindrance from Kidderpore dock area and decongest the city’s roads as well, said the official on Wednesday.
“We have awarded the techno-feasibility study to Rodic Consultants. The project includes a road tunnel and a connecting bridge to the national highways,” Kumar said at the inauguration of the Exim Facilitation Cell of Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday.
The report is expected in 7-8 months and may entail an investment of Rs 2000 crore, he added.
On the developments being carried out at the Kolkata Port, he said that the night navigation facility will be installed soon to boost inland waterways cargo movement on National Waterways 1, which runs between Prayagraj to Haldia in West Bengal.
He also informed that the port is moving toward handing over berth management to the private sector and the modernisation of berths will attract an investment of Rs 3000 crore.
The port has already handed over a berth at Haldia to the Adani group which will invest nearly Rs 300 crore. One liquid handling terminal and a portion of a dock in Kolkata has also been handed over to it and will see an investment of Rs 350 crore.