Dinesh Kamath's news item 'Only financially strong bidders are invited by JNPT for the 4th container terminal' that was published in Newsband

Only financially strong bidders are invited by JNPT for the 4th container terminal

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) at Navi Mumbai has invited bids for developing its fourth container terminal. They want someone who is financially strong and having prior experience.

Earlier, a consortium of Port of Singapore (PSA) and ABG Ports had won the bid. But it backed off from the project due to which the project has got delayed by three years. Had it not backed off JNPT would have got 50 percent of the profit.

Now there are rules made for new bidding. The last date Request for Qualification (RFQ) is August 19.

The recently held pre-RFQ meeting was attended by the so-called creme-de-la-creme of the port sector - Maersk Group, PSA, Dubai Port World, Port of Hamburg, Mediterranean Shipping Company and Adani Ports.

The terminal, once completed, will be one of the largest for containers in the country. It will have a capacity of 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units and a berth of two km in length.

This time the size of the company bidding is expected to be at least 150 per cent of the project cost. It has been made clear that the small players should be kept out of the bid in spite of the fact that participation of smaller players could have led to completion of the project in just four years instead of eight years. 

The second phase of dredging at the fourth terminal, which will increase the draft from 14 metres to 17 metres, will be avoided. This could mean that larger vessels would not be able to dock at the terminal.

The security deposit required to be paid by the winning company has been reduced from one per cent to 0.25 per cent of the total cost.

The bids are expected to be even lower than half of what was offered last time. The cost of the project has gone up to Rs 8,000 crore and with a weakening rupee, it can go even higher.

Considering fourth container terminal's past, the matter could end up in a court, keeping the project in limbo for another few years. This is not the first time that such a thing has happened.