The other two jetties, as part of the Rs 750-crore phase I of the Mundra mega port project, have been undertaken by the Ahmedabad-based Rs 2,100 crore Adani Exports Ltd, and is likely to be ready in another six months.

Gujarat Adani Port has been promoted by the Adani group, with the Gujarat government holding 26 per cent stake, GPL 25 per cent and the remaining 49 per cent raised through private placements and debt.

According to Adani Exports president (group HRD and corporate affairs) Saurabh Dixit, the work on the phase I was completed two months ahead of schedule as a logistic strategy to make the Mundra port operational to carry out at least a part of the Rs 2,100-crore company's growing trade. At present, the bulk of its exports and imports arethrough Kandla or Mumbai.

He said that over Rs 250 crore has been spent on the two jetties. It would cost another Rs 80 crore to build the other two jetties, he said. After the part-completion next week, two vessels of 20,000 dead weight tonnage (dwt) could berth together. With the full completion of the phase I, Dixit said, four vessels could load or unload simultaneously from the 150-metre long finger jetty.

Dixit said the biggest advantage of the Mundra port was that the finger jetty, which went 1 km deep into the sea with a draft of 15 metres, could allow even bigger vessels of up to 60,000 dwt to load or unload directly. (The jetties in the adjoining Kandla port have a draft of 10 metres only).

He said the back-up facilities on the 300-acre plot in the phase I, capable of handling 3.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), included two 12-inch diameter cast-iron pipelines for petroleum products, one 8-inch stainless steel like MEG and acids, 45 tanks totalling 1 lakh kilolitres capacity and bulk-storagegodowns.

Initially, Dixit said, the Adani group intended to build only a captive jetty at the same sight on the 2,500-acre Navina Island. But subsequently, it received offers from several big corporate houses, including oil compnaies like IOL, HPCL and Caltex, showing interest in having their own exclusive terminals. The group proposed to go for the phase II and III, with an aim to handle up to 92 million tonnes of cargo by 2025.