Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Over Rs. 1,000-cr. industrial investment likely in Ennore

By N. Ravi Kumar

CHENNAI FEB. 10 . A host of industrial development activities entailing investments of over Rs.1,000 crores in the short-term and several thousand crores more in the long-run are set to crystallise in and around Ennore with the major port in the suburb serving as the fulcrum.

Prominent among them are oil storage facilities of the Reliance Industries Limited at Vallur for its proposed retail marketing of petroleum products and the captive cargo handling facilities at the third major port of the State.

Coming at a time when doubts are being raised about the capability of the State in retaining potential investors, leave alone attracting fresh investments, one of the long-term projects figuring in the list is an LNG terminal and power project at Ennore, at an estimated investment of about Rs. 6,000 crores.

Conceived several years ago by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation and awarded to a consortium led by the Aditya Birla group, the project is awaiting finalisation of the power purchase agreement and the payment support mechanism. The financial closure of the project is expected by year-end.

On its part, the port is keen on expediting work on the liquid cargo, coal and iron terminals which together involve a capital investment of around Rs. 900 crores and are to be developed on the BOT route. The `request for proposals' will be issued in a few weeks and the concession agreements finalised by June, according to M. Raman, Chairman and Managing Director of Ennore Port Limited (EPL).

Development of the facilities on the `landlord' port concept and for captive use by the investors is in keeping with its target to become an energy port and handle 50 million tonne of cargo by 2010. Commissioned in February 2001 with two berths and the first such facility to be corporatised in the country, the port has in the last two years taken over the entire thermal coal consignment for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board from the Chennai port.

The proposed terminal is for handling the cargo meant for the electricity boards of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and for industrial consumers.

Most of the immediate development of the northern suburbs hovers round RIL plans.

The conglomerate with plans to establish a network of over 2,000 retail outlets is expected to use the Ennore port extensively for marketing its products in the southern region.

To start with, it is planning to start work on a pipeline connecting the port and the terminals in a few days.

In the short-term, the Ennore port is ready to offer its facilities for "handling any cargo for anyone," Mr. Raman said.

As part of this strategy, it agreed to handle the steel cargo of Essar, POL for RIL (until storage facilities are created) and molasses meant for export by Bannari Amman Sugars.

The EPL would invest Rs. 200 crores in dredging work and in creating supporting infrastructure including rail sidings in the next few years.

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