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Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After committing investments on a new six million-tonne-per-annum (mtpa) steel plant, a captive power plant and a coal-to-liquid project in Orissa, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has evinced interest on setting up a captive port in Ganjam district.

It involves a capital cost of Rs 1,424 crore, while the operational cost of running the port would be Rs 152 crore per annum. The first phase is scheduled to be operational by 2017.

The location is 30 km south of the existing Gopalpur port and 18 km from Berhampur.

JSPL today made a presentation to the state commerce and transport department on the proposed port at the mouth of the Bahuda river, a perennial port. The port does not require acquisition of farm land and there are no issues involved with nesting of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles in the area.

… The captive port will handle capesize vessels (150,000 or dwt) for coal and coke and Handymax vessels (50,000 dwt) for general cargo. During the first phase, the port will have two dedicated berths for handling coal and limestone and one berth for general cargo. The port is anticipated to handle about 33 million tonnes per annum of coal and other import items. Six capesize vessels of 150,000 dwt would make 36 visits each per annum for 33 mtpa of coal and other export items.

Work on the second phase is set to begin after 2017, when the port will have three more general berths.

By 2017, the port is expected to handle 4.93 million tonnes (mt) of steel coils and 900,000 tonnes of steel plates. Similarly, the company will import 5.5 mt of coking coal, 7.46 mt of non-coking coal, 2.6 mt of limestone and 3.7 mt of dolomite through this port by that period.

By 2020, the export of coils from the port is projected at 9 mt. Likewise, JSPL would import 12.6 mt coking coal, 7.5 mt non-coking coal, 4.4 mt limestone and 4.7 mt dolomite.

The multiplier effects of the port include revenue from cargo handling, regional economic development, and employment generation, development of road and rail connectivity and acceleration of local economy as well as that of the state.

Update: Following is excerpted from a report inTelegraph.

… Official sources said surveying the land for the project has already been completed. The legal and statutory requirements have been submitted to the appropriate authority for clearance.

… As per the proposal, the company would invest Rs 150 crore for land acquisition and connectivity, Rs 100 crore for energy academy, Rs 2,700 crore for power plant, Rs 1,000 crore for creating marine facilit. While Rs 400 crore would be invested for desalination plant and another Rs 500 crore would be towards township and office complex.

…Officials pointed out that oil and gas-based industries, which have shown interest in the hub are Alph Tech International Inc., Downstream Services, USA, Richemen Petroleum-Export Oriented Refinery, Dubai, SBM Offshore –FPSO Services, USA, ULO Systems LIC, Subsea Pipelines, Switerzerland and Dubai, Hyundai Offshore, South Korea.

The non-oil and gas-based industries which has evinced interest in the hub are Seacor Marine Inc, USA, Faros Investment Partners, UP, Wind Turbines and Blades, Aerostar, USA, Matrix Global LIC, USA and Virtue Group, USA.

Following is from an UNI report in newkerala.

The proposal was submitted to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik by Mr S K Chalamsethy, Director Sonepur Energy and Oil City Private Limited set up by the consortium, sources said today.

The company, official sources said, had proposed to set up an Energy Academy for the development of technical knowhow in the energy and oil sectors and create necessary infrastructure for port, power, desalination plant, fabrication and township.

While the Consortium would invest Rs 5,000 crore, other industrial houses would invest nearly Rs 10,000 crore. The projects, when completed, would provide direct employment to 20,000 people and indirect employment to one lakh.

The Energy Academy would impart training to engineer, geologist, geophysicist, drilling engineer, fabricators besides other technical persons in close association with the international oil companies.

The company, sources said, would invest Rs 100 crore on the academy which would encourage small business men in the Oil sector.

In the proposed Oil city, a port, a ship manufacturing unit, 1000 MW gas based power plant and 120 MLD Desalination Plant, besides a modern city for a population of 10,000, would be established. This apart, infrastructure for setting up of Petrochemical complex and Oil storage would be created in the city.

Official sources said the Southern Orissa, being located on the Krishna-Godabari and Mahanadi basin, has the potential for investment in the oil and gas sectors and Orissa would emerge as a major Hydrocarbon Hub in the entire South East Asia.

In a report in Orissadiary, the group is named as Greenco. I could find a website for Greenko which has a director named Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty. This financial express interview is with him. Greenko stock listing info is here.

Note that Sonepur in Ganjam is next to the Bahuda Muhana. See

• Map: Orissa ports (large map)
• Map: Orissa ports (small map)

In 2008 the Odisha government had proposed Bahuda Muhana as one of the sites in response to a GOI call for a PPP based shipyard. So the above mention plan for a shipyard fits in nicely; or it may mean good homework done by the group in making the overall proposal.

However, Odisha government needs to be careful about grandiose proposals from newcomers, as it may be a land grab plan in disguise.

Update:Tathya has a recent report on who is pursuing which port. Following is a table based on that info.

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=36827.

RAJYA SABHA

There is a proposal for setting up two international size shipyards, one on the East Coast and another on the West Coast of India. 

An international size shipyard may build and repair ships upto the size of Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) which has a carrying capacity of 300,000 Tonnes (DWT).  The shipyard may be located in a place which has 10-12 metres water depth at the jetty.  The international size shipyard may have at least two and preferably three big dry docks (2 for building and 1 for repair), a quayside length of at least 2.5 kms and various support facilities for building and assembly of ships.   

Maritime States were requested by the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways to identify suitable location for setting up of international size shipyards, one each on the East Coast and West Coast of India respectively.  In response, the following locations have been suggested by the Maritime States: 
 

   Upon receipt of the proposals from the State Governments, further information/clarifications have been sought by the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways from the respective State Governments.   

The nodal agencies viz. Ennore Port Limited and Mumbai Port Trust have been authorized to appoint Consultants with clear terms of reference who inter alia, would identify 3 or 4 alternative sites each for setting up of shipyard on West Coast and East Coast of India respectively and also suggest optimal locations with detailed justification.  The process for appointment of Consultants has been initiated by the nodal agencies. 

 The following basic requirements are preferable for setting up of an international size shipyard: 

(i) The minimum land requirement of 1000-1500 acres and waterfront of about 2.5 Kms in length; 

(ii) Water draft of 10 to 12 metres;

(iii) The site location for the proposed shipyards to have good rail and road connectivity;

(iv) Contiguity to a Major Port situated within the State. 

This information was given  by the Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri T.R. Baalu in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

The above article mentions a list of other places where new ports may come up and the companies that have shown interest in them. They are:

• Barunei muhana, Kendrapada: Interest shown by Mittal Steel, Adhunik Metallic and SPI infrastructure.
• Inchudi, Balasore: Interest shown by IL&FS and  SSL energy.
• Palur, Ganjam: Interest shown by Future metals.
• Bahuda Muhana, Ganjam: Interest shown by Mehta and Company

It says that among the shortlisted 13 locations for ports the chances are not good for Chandipur, Bahabalpur and Chudamani and if ports come up in the remaining 10 then Orissa will have the second largest number of ports.

Dharitri has a nice overview (page1, page2, page3) of the status of the various ports that Orissa plans to have. Following are some highlights from that report.

• Aditya Birla group S.L. Mining has expressed interest in developing the Chudamani port in Bhadrakh district. IIT Madras has done the technical evaluation of this project. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Navajuga engineering of Hyderabad has proposed developing Astaranga port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Puri ports limited has proposed developing the Baliharchandi port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Good earth maritime of Madras has proposed developing the port in Bahuda muhana of Ganjam district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Gopalpur: Being developed by Orissa Stevedores. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Dhamara:TISCO and L & T are devloping this port. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Jatadhari: Being developed by POSCO. Page 3 of the article has more details.
• Paradip: Existing major port. We discussed its expansion plans recently.
• Palur, Ganjam: no proposals yet
• Barunei, Kendarpara: no proposals yet
• Inchudi, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Chandipur, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Bahabalpur, Balasore: no proposals yet

The article says that the Balasore district ports face problems from the Dept. of Defense because of the missile testing range nearby. The article does not mention the following plan:

• Creative ports, Chennai plans to develop the Kirtania port on the mouth of Subarnarekha in Balasore district.