New Delhi: Public sector Cochin Shipyard is expected to operationalise a Rs 170 crore modern shipbuilding facility that it is building in West Bengal by June 2021

The state-owned company, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, recently emerged as the lowest bidder for a Rs 10,000-crore contract by the Indian Navy to build next generation missile vessels.

Cochin Shipyard Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited (HCSL), is currently setting up a modern shipbuilding facility at Nazirgunge, West Bengal at an estimated project cost of Rs 169.76 crore, as per a document of the Ministry of Shipping.

"The facility is expected to be operationalised in the first quarter of the financial year 2021-22," the document said.

HCSL targets to construct various types of vessels like Ro-Ro vessels, river-sea cargo vessels for bulk, liquids, containers, passenger vessels and other watercraft for the inland waterways.

Cochin Shipyard has also commissioned a new marine engineering training institute ''Vigyana Sagar'', which was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 14, 2021.

The company recently inked a pact with Dredging Corporation and IHC Holland BV to locally build world-class dredgers in India.

Currently, India depends on foreign dredgers for dredging work worth about Rs 2,000 crore per annum.

CSL, India's leading shipyard, can build ships up to 1,10,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT) and repair ships up to 1,25,000 DWT.

The yard has delivered two of India's largest double hull Aframax tankers each of 95,000 DWT.