The Puducherry government has earned Rs10 crores in the past three years as revenue from the Karaikal port. In the financial year of 2011-2012, the port has yielded a revenue of Rs 5.19 crores as concession fee and `23.13 lakh as lease charges, official sources told Express. The port has been built in private-public partnership by the MARG Limited and the government and according to the agreement, MARG is supposed to pay 2.6 per cent of its gross revenue income to the government.
In the current year (2012-2013), the government has targeted to receive a concession fee of `6.5 crore, as the volume of cargo handling has increased from 4.6 million metric tons (MMT) in 2010-11 to 6.1 million metric tons in 2011-12 and is expected to go up further, official sources said. The company registered a 38 per cent increase in revenue which stood at `1501 crores in 2011 - 2012 compared with Rs 1085 crores in 2010 -2011, Marg sources said.
Currently Marg Karaikal port has five berths, three for general cargo and two for coal. The present handling capacity of the port is 28 MMTPA(million metric tons per anum).
It is envisaged to have a total of 9 berths capable of handling 47 MMTPA by 2018, when the third phase of the development of port will be completed, according to Marg sources. Then the port will be capable of handling all types of cargo such as dry bulk, break bulk, liquid bulk and containerised cargo in different independent zones.