Visakhapatnam: Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) is seeking to diversify from its core dredging activity and become a nodal agency for execution of integrated port infrastructure projects, including construction of berths and marine structures.
“We want to take up projects that give us better returns,” said the government-owned DCI’s chairman and managing director Rajesh Tripathi. “We are keen to utilise our core competence to diversify and venture into new areas of dredging, including inland waterways, rivers and reservoirs.
“Now that there is much more focus on transportation by inland waterways, we are looking to re-enter the inland dredging market from the new fiscal year that began on April 1. We will offer our expertise in the execution of waterway projects on the Ganga and Godavari rivers.”
The Visakhapatnam-based DCI, which runs a fleet of 15 dredgers, is also venturing into overseas markets for the first time in nearly a decade. It has issued an expression of interest to rent out four of its dredgers and a tug for a two-year period. Abu Dhabi-based National Marine Dredging Co has offered to collaborate with DCI to deploy the four dredgers in the Gulf.
“The dollar income we earn by renting out the four dredgers gives us a natural hedging mechanism, and can be used to repay Euro loans worth INR12bn ($193m),” Tripathi said.
