Port plans to encash dredged sand

KOCHI: The Cochin Port Trust has approached consultancy firm KITCO to study usage of dredged sand to reduce its maintenance dredging burden.

A CPT release said it was dumping nearly 21 million cubic metres of dredged material about 20-km off the shoreline.

Efforts made earlier to use this material for landfill and bio-fertiliser failed to make much headway mainly due to the presence of heavy metal components and the difficulty of transporting them from the trailing suction hopper dredgers.

The Port Trust has now decided to concentrate on the area around Puthuvypeen where sand is available.

An estimated 4 million cubic metres of sand is being dredged from an area of about 5 km in the shipping channel and dumped in the outer sea every year.

The Port proposes to use this sand for construction purposes after segregating and washing under public-private-partnership.

Around 24 acres of land available to the west of the LNG terminal in Puthuvypeen will be used for implementing the project.

The Port hopes to use the 2.4 million litres of demineralised water expected to be available from Petronet LNG Terminal for washing the dredged sand.

The Port proposes to call a tender-cum-auction for the sand-mining to be located on this land on a 30-year concession.

The Port will dredge and deliver the sand to this area using pipelines. It will also explore the possibility of using the remaining dredged spoils.