JSW Infrastructure to develop and run two cargo berths at upcoming Ramayapatnam in Andhra Pradesh

VISAKHAPATNAM : JSW Infrastructure Ltd, the port’s unit of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government to develop and run two berths at the upcoming Ramayapatnam Port in the southern state, a top official of APMB has said.

“We have reached an agreement with JSW Infrastructure for the two berths at Ramayapatnam Port and a memorandum of understanding will be signed shortly,” Lt Cdr Ravindranath Reddy, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board (APMB), said.

JSW Infrastructure will develop the berths and run it for the captive use of the steel plant it is building in Kadapa district.

JSW Infrastructure will be given the rights to develop and run the two berths at Ramayapatnam Port for an initial concession period of 30 years that can be extended twice by 10 years each, Reddy said.

The royalty/revenue share for the two berths will be decided before signing the concession agreement for the berths, he added.

Ramayapatnam is one of the four new ports identified by the State government to expand the port capacity to 400 million tonnes (mt) by 2024 from 110 mt. The other three ports are planned at Bhavanapadu, Machilipatnam and Kakinada SEZ.

Ramayapatnam port is being developed by the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board on a landlord model in two phases with the first phase costing Rs3,736 crore to handle 24.91 million tonnes (mt) of cargo a year from four berths. In the second phase, the port’s cargo handling capacity will be expanded by 113.63 mt with an investment of Rs 6,904 crore, to take the total capacity to 138.54 mt a year from 19 berths.

In July 2021, the A P Maritime Board awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a new port at Ramayapatnam in the State’s Prakasam district to a consortium of Hyderabad-based Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and Navayuga Engineering Co Ltd, for Rs2,634.65-crore.

After the EPC work is completed, the AP government plans to outsource cargo handling operations at Ramayapatnam, Bhavanapadu and Machilipatnam ports to specialists and cargo owners.