Adani group's plan to develop ports to yield better results

Mundra Port, the project jointly implemented by Gujarat Port Infrastructure Development (GPIDL) and Gujarat Adani Port (GAPL), has just established the longest non-government railway line, put up at a cost of Rs 160 crore, between Adipur and Mundra in Kutch, totalling a distance of 57 km.

GAPL and Indian Railways have now signed an agreement for the operation and revenue sharing of the 57 km stretch. The agreement is a new model of operation for a railway link, wherein the Mundra port owns the land, railway track and other assets, and maintains the same as per the standards laid down by the Railways, while the latter provides the link by providing locomotives, wagons and the essential technical staff.

The revenue derived from the freight carried on this link will be shared by the Railways and GAPL. The agreement between the two was signed by Indian Railways executive director (perspective planning) Ranjan Jain and Adani group chairman Gautam Adani in the presence of Union Minister of Railways Nitish Kumar.

Says Adani: “The railway line has already handled 466 rakes of various commodities totalling 1.25 million tonnes of cargo. The commodities mainly include coal, fertiliser, wheat, chickpeas, rice and edible oils. We are now at an advanced stage of setting up the Mundra International Container Terminal.“

The facility has been set up primarily to meet the future requirement of container traffic of the northern hinterland, which generates over 50 per cent of the container traffic in India.

Accordingly, the Mundra port has now embarked on a project of improving the present rail connectivity to the northern hinterland by agreeing to commit resources for the conversion of the existing 300 km metre gauge on the Gandhidham-Palanpur line, which runs across Gujarat and Rajasthan, to broad gauge.