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New Delhi, Oct. 30: The shipping ministry has asked the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) to prepare the feasibility report to kick-start the new Sagar port project within the current financial year. The finance ministry has already given its go-ahead for the project.

According to JICA’s original schedule, it is supposed to take up the feasibility study next fiscal. But the shipping ministry wants it to start the work a year earlier. JICA wanted the shipping ministry to get the approval of its finance counterpart before it considered a schedule change .

A shipping ministry official told The Telegraph that the finance ministry has given its permission and the onus was now on the Japanese agency to start the work. He said the ministry was in touch with JICA and has been urging it to take up the feasibility study soon.

Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu along with some senior officials had met finance minister P. Chidambaram in July last for his approval to the feasibility study. The permission has come through recently.

Shipping Secretary D.T. Joseph said the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on the western coast has already got additional berths, work on the new Vallarpadnum terminal for the expansion of the Kochi port has got underway and the Sethuraman canal has also been approved. “I think, now it is Calcutta’s turn for the next round of investment and that is why we want to expedite the proposal,” he remarked.

The shipping secretary said a port at Sagar on the mouth of the Hooghly would enable the Calcutta port system to take in bigger ships as the draft at the port would be 12 metres. Ships with a 10.5 metre draft could then dock at the port as the mandatory “under keel clearance” of 1.5 metres for vessels could be maintained. He said though a port in the sea at Sandheads could have a 50-metre draft, its prohibitive set-up cost has made Sagar the best alternative port location for expansion of the Calcutta port system.