Chennai Port to revive outer harbour project

Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) has decided to revive three major projects. First in the agenda is the revival of outer harbour project. Known as mega container terminal, the Rs 3,686-crore project was deferred thrice in the last four years due to reasons such as poor response and low revenue share offered by the bidders. The delay resulted in the project cost escalating to Rs 5,090 crore. To make the project attractive, ChPT renamed the project as outer harbour project that would handle different types of commodities. Having failed in its earlier attempt to convert the coal berth of Jawahar Dock into a cargo terminal, ChPT is planning to remodel it. Jawahar Dock has a 12-m draught and it can be used for handling multipurpose cargoes such as steel, coil and logs. ChPT is also planning other project enhancements, to develop dry dock facility at its century-old boat basin and timber pond.