Dhamra Port pays Rs 73.48 cr revenue share to Odisha govt

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 12:

Dhamra Port, a subsidiary of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, today paid Rs 73.48 crore revenue share of the port to the Odisha government.

Director, Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) Santosh Kumar Mohapatra handed over the cheque to chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here in the presence of the chief secretary GC Pati, additional chief secretary Aditya Padhi, additional chief secretary R Balakrishnan and principal secretary, Commerce and Transport, Sanjay Rastogi.

The revenue share of Rs 73.48 crore covers the period since the commencement of operation of the port  in May 2011 up to September 2014, DPCL sources said.

The company was allowed a moratorium till March 2016, but has started paying its revenue share ahead of the expiry of this period.

As per Concession Agreement, Dhamra Port had to pay a share of 5 percent of its total revenue earning to the state government, which will become 8 percent from the financial year 2016-17, and subsequently increase to 10 percent and 12 percent. Thus the share of state government from the port will further increase in coming years.

Dhamra Port had commenced commercial operations in May 2011. The Port has presently two berths for handling dry bulk cargo and has a 18-km channel with 17.5 metre draft for allowing smooth berthing of cape size and super cape size vessels.

The new promoters of the port, the Adani Group, are keen to expand the port into one of India’s largest ports in the coming years.