Calcutta, Nov. 17: Dubai-based DP World, one of the largest port operators in the world, has said it will not wait beyond 90 days for an agreement on the Kulpi project, according to a partner.

“DP World has told us that it will not wait more than three months for the project. I have communicated this to the state government today,” said Mahendra K. Jalan, a director of Bengal Port, the company that partners DP World on the Kulpi port project.

A container port and a special economic zone are scheduled to come up in South 24-Parganas’ Kulpi, around 55km from Calcutta, as part of the Rs 1,200-crore project.

The project is being held up in the absence of an agreement between the Bengal government and the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT), the custodian of Bengal’s two existing ports.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the CPT and the state government for Kulpi in 2001. The memorandum has to be converted into a formal agreement.

The Dubai company was not involved in 2001. DP World, owned by the Dubai government’s investment agency Dubai World, stepped in after it bought out UK port operator P&, a partner in Bengal Port, in 2006. Jalan’s Keventer Projects and DP World have 44.5 per cent stake each in Bengal Port. The state government holds the rest.

The Telegraph has learnt that Dubai World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, who visited Calcutta in 2007 and met the chief minister, had written a letter to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on May 14, 2008, seeking his intervention for speedy implementation of the port project.

The letter, unpublicised till now, had referred to the “roadblocks with regard to the issues raised” by the CPT and added that “further delay or obstructions” by the trust could only have “a detrimental effect on all stakeholders”.

A meeting took place on May 30, attended by the Union shipping secretary, the chief secretary and industries secretary of Bengal and the CPT chairman. However, the agreement has not been signed.

Sabyasachi Sen, the state industries and commerce secretary, today conceded that the project was being delayed, adding that the Centre had sought the opinion of the CPT. The port chairman could not be contacted for comment.

Sources said if the CPT was willing, the pact could be signed in less than 90 days. But the signal the delay sends — that reminders are needed to get projects off the ground in Bengal — will add to the negative perception in the wake of Singur, though the state government cannot be blamed over the port project, they added.

The CPT has a role because it is expected to dredge the Hooghly river along Kulpi and pilot ships to the port. Other sources said the state government and the CPT had yet to agree on costs for dredging and piloting.

When a proposal for a deep-sea port was mooted, fears were expressed in some quarters that the CPT would not like its importance diluted. A new port in Kulpi could divert traffic from Haldia.

Land is not an issue in Kulpi as 700 acres vested with the government have been set aside for the project.