In a bid to overcome bottle necks at its port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) is planning to raise funds for a two-year project that would expand its current six-lane evacuation corridor into 12 lanes, according to Hellenic Shipping News.
DP World will also be assisting with its expansion by adding around 800,000 TEU to its own container terminal, based at the port, by the end of 2016.
JNPT has recently stated that it aims to become one of the top 10 global ports within the next five years by capitalising on its strategic location.
Neeraj Bansal, Deputy Chairman of JNPT, said: “We are looking at foreign loans since we have a natural hedge in terms of dollar income and the rates are almost 7% lower than the domestic rate. This would be a huge saving on our investments.
“We expect DP World to start partial commissioning by May 15, 2015 which would add around 400,000 TEU to our [current] total capacity of 4.5 million TEU.”
In other news, the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development and Trademark East Africa have launched a US$596m project aimed at improving Dar es Salaam Port, Tanzania.
