Govt yet to award port expansion projects even as Q3 nears end

About 60 per cent of this year8217;s planned investment was meant for the Chennai mega-container terminal, which has not materialised so far. It requires an investment of around Rs 3,100 crore. The expansion is part of the Rs 55,000-crore capacity enhancement programme under the National Maritime Development Programme NMDP, wherein the government plans to raise capacity from 383.7 million tonnes MT to 615.7 MT between 2005 and 2012.

Investors have been reluctant to come forward on account of a host of issues. For instance the revenue share deductible calculation by the Tariff Suthority for Major Ports TAMP is considered unviable by many. Even profit projections for Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust JNPT seem incorrect to some, say analysts.

In the case of JNPT, the government is now going in for re-tendering for the widening and deepening of the JNPT channel. It had estimated an investment of Rs 800 crore while the lowest bid received was Rs 1,100 crore which is more than twenty per cent of government estimates. A re-bidding is usually done when L1 is more than twenty per cent of estimate.

A major blow also came from the Ennore Port litigation, which is under the Chennai High Court. Bidders went to court arguing that the short-listing was anti-competitive and arbitrary, and the port had erred in computing the experience scores. Nine of the applicants with top experience scores from a list of 22 were eliminated from the bidding.

These entities have also questioned the port8217;s decision to exclude them on the grounds that they were 8220;non-serious8221; bidders. Those left out include global port operators such as DP World and PSA of Singapore. Moreover, the government also raised objections over the common parentage of two bidders. It disqualified them stating that PSA and Temasek were both Singapore government entities.

Expansion projects were slated for being taken up at eight major ports 8212; Paradip, Vizag, Chennai, Tuticorn, Cochin, New Mangalore, Goa and Kandla 8212; in 2008-09. At Paradip the plan was to add two new deep draft berths as it is close to India8217;s major iron ore and coal mining belt.

Separate berths are planned for both iron ore and coal shipments. Also on the cards was the plan to set up a mechanised iron ore handling facility at the New Mangalore port. Shipments of iron ore and coal are expected to see a 70 per cent rise at Indian ports between 2005 and 2012, according to government estimates.

Other planned projects include two separate cargo terminals at Vizag for liquid and bulk cargo. An international cruise terminal at Kochi, a multi-purpose cargo berth at Kandla and a bulk cargo berth at Goa are also on the cards. At Tuticorn, berth number 8 will be converted into a container terminal.

CHENNAI

About 60 per cent of this year8217;s planned investment of Rs 5,000 cr was meant for the Chennai mega-container terminal, which has not materialised so far. It requires an investment of around Rs 3,100 cr

Mumbai

Govt is going in for re-tendering for widening and deepening of JNPT channel. It estimated an investment of Rs 800 cr but the lowest bid received was Rs 1,100 cr which is more than 20 pc of estimates

ENNORE

Bidders went to the Chennai High Court arguing that short-listing for Ennore Port was anti-competitive. Nine of the applicants with top experience scores from a list of 22 were eliminated from the bidding