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Adani Ports, JSW Steel and two other companies are in the race for a Rs 350-crore dredging project at Goa port, the first such scheme on PPP mode at a major port.
“The government has decided to undertake the work for deepening of draft at Mormugao Port in Goa on PPP. Four firms — Adani Ports, JSW Steel, Mercator Lines and Dharti Dredgers and Infrastructure — have bid for it,” a top official told PTI.
The government will very soon take a final decision to select the bidder, the official said, adding that this is for the first time that the government is proceeding to go for dredging at a major port on public-private-partnership (PPP) basis.
When contacted, JSW Joint Managing Director CEO Captain BVJK Sharma said: “Yes, we will bid if we qualify.”
Adani spokesperson did not reply to queries in this regard, while Mercator Lines and Dharti Dredgers and could not be reached for comments.
Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) in Goa is among the 12 major ports in the country under the control of the Centre.
The project involves deepening the draft of its navigation channel from the existing 14.5 metres to 19.5 metres, which when done would enable the port to receive large size vessels.
The official said at present only 75,000 tonne vessels come to Goa port and the dredging will pave way for large cape size vessels of 1,75,000 DWT.
Also, it would result in savings of up to $7 per tonne on freight to the importer, the official said.
As per the current practice, capital dredging is done by ports at their own cost or with government support.
Under the PPP mode, the private player will not only bear the cost of the project but would also contribute to the port’s revenue as the terminal operator may collect higher charges from vessels.
The project model was worked out by consultant SBI Caps.
Goa port had handled 11.74 million tonnes of cargo in 2013-14.
The Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister, Nitin Gadkari, has been laying stress on roping in private players to expand the capacity of ports.
Gadkari has said that steps have been initiated to make the ports on par with global standards.
He has also asked all major ports to come up with a shelf of projects to augment their capacity to 1,600 million tonnes from the present 800 mt.
India has 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, VO Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) — handling approximately 61 per cent of cargo traffic.
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