Sagar Island is an island in the Ganges delta, lying on the continental shelf of the Bay of Bengal about 150km south of Kolkata. The island is large, with an area of about 300 km2 (length 30km * width 10km). Although the island is in the sunderban delta, it does not have any tiger habitation or mangrove forests or small river tributaries.
The island is also known as Gangasagar or Sagardwip and is a place of pilgrimage. Every year on Makar Sankranti (January 14th) day, lacs of pilgrims take a holy dip in the confluence of river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers.
Presently, and for the last over 50 years, Sagar roads (off Sagar island in the river Hooghly) is being utilized as an anchorage port, as the draft is better (8.5 to 9.6m) when compared to Kolkata (5.2 to 7.7m) and Haldia (6.6 to 8.0m). The drafts vary on a daily basis and also according to season, depending on the height of tide above chart datum above the sand bars in the river Hooghly. (Aforesaid drafts obtained from KoPTs draft prediction for February 2016)
In order to overcome the severe draft restrictions and vessel size limitations in the ports of Kolkata and Haldia, it is planned to set up a new port on the south west bank of Sagar Island. Some of the highlights of the Sagar Island port development project are given below:
- Project cost about Rs. 12000 crores.
- Through capital dredging, draft to be enhanced to 12m in phase I which will be increased further. It is possible to enter into a draft more easily at Sagar Island, Kolkata and Haldia as they are closer to Bay of Bengal by about 75km from Eastern Channel light at Sandheads.
- Cargoes: Dry- bulk and containers Dry- Bulk: Coking coal, thermal coal, coke, iron ore, fertilizers, etc. Cargo volume in phase I, about 50 million tonnes per annum.
- Construction of a 4-lane rail-cum-road bridge between mainland and Sagar Island to provide connectivity to national rail and highways network.
- Land required for port development, about 2000acres and will be allocated by Govt. of West Bengal.
- Joint venture between KoPT (74%) and Govt. of West Bengal (26%)
- Estimated date of completion of Phase I, by 2019.
Work on the development of Sagar Port is expected to start soon and a major part of which is dredging. Boston Consulting Group has suggested a new dredging plan which is being studied by IIT Chennai. Indications are that this would bring down the dredging cost by about 50 per cent.
On completion, the port facilities at Sagar Island, Haldia and Kolkata will function as an integrated river-port system and cargoes will be handled by three modes; river, rail and road.
Development of Sagar Island port is indeed a very welcome development as it would benefit the eastern and north – eastern regions, trade and shipping industry as there has been a long felt need for a suitable deep water port in the region.
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