Calcutta, Aug. 24: The Centre has initiated work to develop a port in East Midnapur's Tajpur after conclusively gaining majority control in the venture.

It will appoint a consultant to prepare a techno-economic feasibility report, a prerequisite for any major infrastructure project, and take the proposal to the Union cabinet for approval.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee conducted a top-level meeting with Calcutta Port Trust chairman M.T. Krishna Babu along with four ministers, the chief secretary and other bureaucrats to take stock of the progress.

The Tajpur initiative may put the proposed port at Sagar Island, which has been under consideration for around two decades, on the backburner. The Centre and the state have decided to build it later because of the costs involved in evacuating cargo to the mainland.

"We will float a tender shortly to appoint a consultant to carry out a techno-economic feasibility report, which may take three-four months. Following this, we will take the proposal to the Union cabinet for approval. The project will be developed by Bhor Sagar Port Ltd, a joint venture between the state and the Centre," Babu said.

The Mamata Banerjee-government had originally come up with an alternative location for Sagar at Tajpur and toyed with the idea of inducting private operators to manage the port.

The Centre threw a spanner in the plan by putting Sagar on hold after it was denied a majority stake initially. After several parleys at the political and bureaucratic levels, the state gave in to the Centre's demand.

"You are aware that Nitin Gadkari had announced the development of a deep sea port at Sagar. That would require a bridge, which is huge. While that work is being done, there is an agreement to start with Tajpur," Bengal finance and industries minister Amit Mitra said while addressing the members of the managing committee of industry association Assocham today.

"The draft in Tajpur is 15 metres and there is going to be a deep-sea port. A large port with that kind of draft will be a game changer," he added.

While it is early days to work out the investment required, creating a 27-kilometre shipping line to get the vessels dock at Tajpur will alone cost Rs 2,000 crore along with an incremental cost of Rs 100 crore yearly.

The Centre-state partnership will create the maritime infrastructure - creation of channel and breakwater - and land development on the shore. Private players will be invited to build the berth and evacuation infrastructure.

Shipping sources said the port would be able to handle fully loaded panamax vessels of 75,000 dead weight tonne compared with the 20,000 tonne ships that now come to Haldia, allowing industries and trade to gain economy of scale in operations.

However, it will still not be able to fully compete with Dhamra in Odisha, the closest competitor to the ports in Bengal, which can handle bigger capesize vessels of 200,000 tonnes. "The ideal location would have been 20km down south but then we would be in Odisha waters," said an officer.

During the meeting with the chief minister, it was also agreed that the vacant space of Nayachar Island near Haldia will be used to dump silt dredged from the rivers. In the absence of a place on land, silt was being dumped in the river itself.

The port chairman also discussed the difficulties in transporting edible oil from Haldia by rail because of opposition from a local tanker association, while movement by road for long distances was costly. The chief minister advised that movement beyond 750km should be done by rail. She asked transport minister Suvendu Adhikari to sort out the issue.

This may result in diversion of edible oil traffic to neighbouring Ports.