Odisha government reportedly considers whether to postpone the leasing of land for the Rs 10,000-crore expansion of Dhamra port following reports of the promoters reducing their holding in the port venture.

   

Earlier there were reports that Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and Tata Steel , which own 50 per cent each in Dhamra Port Co (DPCL), were planning to sell their entire stake to the Adani Group. DPCL operates the deep draught commercial port along the eastern coast.

   

However, the reports of stake sale were rejected by L&T, which said port ownership was right now under status quo.

   

The government feels that it would be prudent to take a call on land leasing after ownership issues are settled, though a change in ownership at this stage does not violate concession agreement.

   

Meanwhile, the Rail India Technical and Consultancy Services, the engineering and consultancy arm of Indian Railways is preparing a thumb rule for land assessment for non-major ports. The rule is expected to be ready by the end of this month.

   

For executing the phase-II expansion project, the port needs 800 acre land. The expansion got a setback when the state government ruled out immediate allotment of land for the port. The state commerce and transport department had stipulated three conditions for leasing out land. First, the port has to achieve capacity utilisation of 70 per cent of phase I.

   Of late, the government is understood to have done away with the capacity utilisation norm.