JNPT to invest Rs.150 cr to install three container scanners

The Dollar Business Bureau

India’s biggest container port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), is going to invest Rs.150 crore for installing three mobile scanners in order cut the operating time.

Currently, the port has just two scanners and therefore it takes up to two days for containers to clear through due to the long queues, said officials of the port on Friday.

“In the next 6 months, we will be installing three more container scanners at a cost of Rs.150 crore in order to ease the operations,” Anil Diggikar, Chairman, JNPT, told the journalists in Mumbai.

Diggikar said the decision to install additional scanners at the port is being taken as part of the 'ease of doing business' initiative in order to make it more competitive as it is compared with the best ports in the world.

The existing two operational scanners are situated at Dronagiri and the government-owned JNPCT terminal. With the installation of new scanners, all the three terminals will have a scanner each of their own, he said.

Neeraj Bansal, Deputy Chairman, JNPT said that specifics such as the charges to be imposed are yet to be decided. These specifics will be decided soon, he added.

The port is proactively doing the investment in order to make the operations smoother, he said.

Diggikar informed that currently JNPT has been ranked 130 by the World Bank among the global ports on the basis of ease of utilising the facility and the port is focussing to enter among the top-50 with the help of such initiatives.

In order to remain relevant by attracting the ocean going liners with better capacities, JNPT is planning to award a dredging contract worth Rs.2,000 crore in the current fiscal for deepening the draft by 1 metre to 15 metres, he said.

At the same time, the work is progressing on the Rs.7,900 crore 4th container terminal, given to Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), Diggikar said.

Once the overall capacity of 3.8 million standard container units is achieved by 2022, the port will be among the top-20 ports in the world, he added.

Briefing on satellite port of the Vadhvan, near the coast of Dahanu in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, Diggikar stated the detailed report of the project is being prepared and the contract will be given in the next fiscal.

Currently, agencies are working on a detailed assessment of the socio-economic and environmental effects on the project, he added.