Mumbai: The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) is upgrading the existing cruise terminal to international standards. The new international terminal with state-of-the-art amenities and facilities will be ready by the end of this year, said MbPT officials.
At present, an area of 25,000 square feet is under cruise terminal operations at the Ballard Pier Extension (BPX) berth, which will be increased to 4,15,000 sqft under the new revamp plan.
Meanwhile, the authority is planning to begin small ferry boat service to Elephanta from the existing international terminal so travellers do not go to the Gateway. The service is expected to commence in about 15 days, Sanjay Bhatia, the MbPT chairman, told the Free Press Journal.
The revamped international cruise terminal will have ground plus three-storey building. The ground and first floors will be reserved as passengers terminal, second and third floor for commercial or retail activities with a car park for 400 vehicles. Once operational, the terminal will handle 500 ships and more than 10 lakh passengers annually, and over 10,000 passengers at any time.
According to the MbPT, the current traffic at Mumbai Port is 105 cruise calls, which bring around one lakh passengers. The number is expected to rise to 480 cruise calls and about seven lakh passengers by 2030. To cater to the rising demand and flow of passengers, the city MbPT has taken the project to reconstruct a new international cruise terminal in place of the existing one. It is spending about Rs303.3 crore on the new terminal. Of the sum, Rs175 crore will be spent on civil works, Rs75 crore on electrical works, and the remaining, Rs53.3 crore on miscellaneous, including installation of fire fighting equipment and sewage treatment plant.
Additionally, to recover the project cost, the operation and maintenance (O&M) will be given on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Model. The authority will take upfront payment from the interested agency to carry out the O&M.
The concession period is for 30 years, wherein the PPP partner will invest nearly Rs192 crore over the first two years of concession period to provide terminal equipment, interior works and parking, and shall carry out terminal operations, commercial operations and maintenance of the project site, according to the project plan.
