Mangaluru: Adani owned UPCL, which is operating 2 units of 600 MW thermal power plant at Yellur village, signed and executed a concession agreement with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) for additional land of 4.99 Hectares of NMPT for the purpose of UPCL’s project expansion.

The agreement was signed and exchanged mutually by Suresh P Shirwadkar, in-charge chairman of NMPT and Kishore Alva, joint president of Adani UPCL, at board room of NMPT, Mangaluru.

Speaking on the occasion, Shirwadkar informed that this execution of concession agreement with UPCL will facilitate NMPT in experiencing good traffic in cargo handling at port in coming days.

Addressing during the meeting, Alva informed that for M/s UPCL is presently generating 1,200 MW and for the purpose of bulk coal terminal on captive basis involving construction and operation of captive jetty with associated facilities required for handling bulk quantity of coal, it had entered into a Concession Agreement with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) for nearly 15 hectares of land during May 2008 for a period of 30 years with the approval by Ministry of Shipping, government of India.

He also told that, UPCL has developed a mechanized coal handling system consisting of two ship unloaders and installed a 3 km length conveyor system enabling handling of coal at 3,300 tonnes per hour. The facility also consists of rapid loading system to load the coal on railway wagons at a speed of one wagon per minute on a railway siding of 3.60 km length. The existing storage capacity is 1.50 lac million ton, he added.

Alva further informed that the agreement is an addendum to the existing concession agreement and is for the additional land of 4.99 hectares. The additional land of 4.99 hectares is required to handle additional cargo for the UPCL’s proposed project expansion of 2x600 MW.

Departmental heads of NMPT involving C Ramani, FA & CAO, H N Ashwath, CE (Civil), Y R Belagal, traffic manager, Dr Srinivasulu, chief medical officer, A V Harinath, deputy CE (Civil), Navaneeth Kumar, senior deputy traffic manager, C P Ravindra, EE (Civil), Pravin Singh, harbour master, and K Aleshappa, SE (Electrical) were present on the occasion.

Officers from Adani UPCL involving Y Parasurama, AVP, Girish Navada, AGM, Shantharam Pai, AGM, Ravi R Jere, senior manager, Abhinanda, senior manager, and Krishna Reddy, associate manager were also present.