Mumbai:Essar Ports has secured a letter of award from Deendayal Port Authority to develop an 18.33-million-tonne-a-year multipurpose cargo terminal at Tuna Tekra in Gujarat's Kandla port, marking a renewed push by the group to expand its ports business. The project carries an estimated cost of Rs 2,276.06 crore, including an investment of Rs 1,552.57 crore by Essar Ports and Rs 723.49 crore by the port authority, the company said in a statement. The terminal will be developed under a 30-year build-operate-transfer concession through the public-private partnership route, with Essar emerging as the highest bidder in a global competitive bidding process. The project will add capacity for handling dry and other multipurpose cargo on India's western coast, as the country seeks to expand port infrastructure to accommodate growing trade and improve logistics efficiency, it said.