By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 25, 2017: Tata Steel Limited will acquire majority equity stake in Creative Port Development Private Limited (CPDPL) and its promoters for the proposed development of Subarnarekha Port in Odisha’s Balasore district.

The steel major on Wednesday said it has executed definitive agreements with CPDPL and the port development is envisaged through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Subarnarekha Port Private Limited (SPPL).

“The acquisition and development is subject to certain conditions precedent, detailed technical assessments and financial closure,” steel maker said.

CPDPL, promoted by two technoprenuers -Ramani Ramaswamy and Ramaswamy Rangarajan- had entered into a concession agreement with the Odisha government in 2008 to develop the port as an all weather deep-draft facility.

“The investment to develop the Subarnarekha Port will address the strategic needs of company in the future. The location of the proposed port makes it attractive to structurally enhance the competitive position of our Indian operations,” said steel producer’s Group Executive Director (Finance & Corporate) Koushik Chatterjee.

“As the company grows in India in the future, securing competitive logistics solution is a key aspect in de-risking our in-bound and out-bound supply chain. The proposed Subarnarekha Port will address the long-term strategic needs of the company,” said Tata Steel India and South East Asia Managing Director T V Narendran.

Subarnarekha Port Pvt. Ltd is a greenfield port under implementation with an estimated capital cost of Rs. 2500 crore close to Subarnarekha River Mouth (Chaumukh) in Balasore district. The port will cater to the key cargo movements in east India through development of deep water alongside berthing, multi-cargo port with state of the art loading and unloading facility.

The Port plans to have facilities for capsize vessels of more than 1.2 lakh DWT in phase I onward, which would be further enhanced to handle bigger vessels (1.8 to 2 lakh DWT) in second and third phases.