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DP World, Dubai has emerged as the lone bidder for the Rs 600-crore container terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.
The price bid for the 330-metre-long container berth was opened on Thursday evening.
The Dubai Government-owned company, which is already operating a terminal at the port — Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal — is understood to have offered to share of 29.09 per cent of the revenue to the Government, it is learnt.
Big boost
A JNPT official said, since there is only one bidder, the port’s board of trustees will take a decision on awarding the contract in a day or two.
There were two other short-listed bidders, but they did not turn up for putting the price bid at the stipulated time on Thursday evening.
For DP World, the project will be a big boost as its existing terminal is running beyond its installed capacity. The proposed terminal is located near its existing facility.
The new project would come a relief to JNPT, which was forced to terminate the contract for the fourth container terminal awarded to the consortium of PSA International, said a port user. Moreover, the port has been facing a capacity constraint. The proposed terminal will have an annual capacity to handle 6-7 lakh TEUs.
The tender for the project was pending for long due to various issues including court cases. The latest case was field by ABG Ports, a Mumbai-based port operator, seeking permission to bid for the project. After exiting from the PSA Singapore consortium that bid for the fourth container terminal, ABG approached the Mumbai High Court seeking permission to bid for the 330-metre terminal.
The court on Thursday rejected ABG’s appeal and allowed JNPT to go ahead with the tender, it is learnt.
The bid, submitted on Thursday, opened on the same day, a port official said.
The port management may wait for the Government’s green signal to award the contract, as it is a case where there is only a single bidder, said a JNPT source.
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