Mumbai: With the Tamil Nadu cabinet clearing the project, Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) will move ahead to set up a Rs3,000 crore new shipyard-cum-port project at Kattupalli in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu as a special economic zone (SEZ). The planned port will also have a facility to handle container cargo, say company officials who did not wish to be identified.
The state government’s approval came nearly 16 months after L&T had first submitted a formal proposal to the state in September 2006. A L&T spokesperson declined to comment.
Gaining ground: L&T MD and chairman A.M.Naik. (Ashesh Shah/ Mint)
The cabinet clearance will pave the way for L&T to sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government to set up the project through a joint venture with the state-owned Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corp. Ltd (Tidco). L&T will hold close to 98% stake in the joint venture.
The cabinet approval will also allow L&T to acquire about 1,200 acres of land from Tidco to set up the project. Once the land is in its possession, L&T will submit a proposal to the Union commerce ministry to develop the project as a SEZ that will build cargo ships, warships, offshore oil rigs and other heavy engineering products.
L&T plans to start construction work on the project after the SEZ is notified. The commerce ministry’s decision on the SEZ is expected within two months of L&T submitting the application. L&T is currently negotiating shipbuilding orders worth $1-2 billion (Rs3,930-7,860 crore) with global shipowners.
The proposed shipyard at Kattupalli will be capable of building 25 ships a year and repair 50-60 ships annually.
When fully operational, the shipyard-cum-port project is likely to employ close to 10,000.
L&T plans to begin building ships by end-2009 and deliver the first ship 12-14 months later. Mint had first reported on 4 July that L&T had picked Kattupalli for the SEZ project.
-P.Manoj
Mt Everest conqueror Sir Ed Hillary dead at 88
Wellington, New Zealand:Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century’s greatest adventurers, died on Friday, New Zealand’s prime minister announced. He was 88.
The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called “Ed” and considering himself just an ordinary man.
“Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities,” Prime Minister Helen Clark said in a statement on Friday. “In reality, he was a colossus. He was a heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off’ Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity.”
Sir Edmund Hillary, who with Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide, won worldwide acclaim in 1953 by becoming the first to scale the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest. Norgay died in 1986.
-AP
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