The Hindu Business Line : Gujarat Maritime bid to lure private investments in intermediate ports

In 1992, came Pipavav with SeaKing Engineers India emerging as the first private sector port developer in the country. Then, it was the turn of Adani Exports Ltd to turn to infrastructure in a major way when it signed a licence agreement with the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) to develop the Mundra port. There has been no looking back ever since for both these business houses.

The second phase of Gujarat's port development came in 2001 with Royal Dutch Shell stealing a march over many Indian majors by clinching the Hazira LNG project and port that was an intrinsic part of it.

Almost simultaneously, the Central Government PSUs that teamed up to form the Petronet LNG - again for a LNG terminal - annexed Dahej, whose port development has gone to the Adani group.

Not that the SeaKing group was sitting idle after Pipavav as it pushed hard for what it though would be India's first greenfield SEZ at Positra. However, that project got snarled up in a number of litigation and SeaKing moved on to Mumbai with its SEZ. Though the letter of intent from GMB to develop Positra still is with SeaKing, it is a moot point whether the Mumbai-based company is still interested in the project.

Now, the GMB feels the time is ripe to put on offer another clutch of intermediate ports for development with private investment. It has short-listed Simar, near the Union Territory of Diu, Vansi-Borsi about 30 km off Surat, Mithivirdi that is just around the corner from Alang, Bedi near Jamnagar and Maroli, once offered and returned to the shelf by Natelco.

The total investment envisaged for the development of these five ports adds up to nearly Rs 5,100 crore. However, the Gujarat Government does not expect all five ports to simultaneously find suitors, and is betting on at least two off these to be picked off the shelves by the private sector. The GMB has invited expressions of interest from the private sector for participation in these projects.

Talking to Business Line, a senior GMB officer said, "The present port capacity that exists within Gujarat will get exhausted by 2008 and we need to push for new ports right away. The recent global notice inviting Expression of Interest (EoI) to develop these five ports has October 15 as its last date. Thereafter, it will take another six months before the successful company can commence work at the port site. It takes about three years to develop a port and to that extent we are on target."

The GMB has an ace up its sleeve as it already has pre-feasibility reports on each of these projects by leading consultants like the UK-based Rendel Palmer & Triton, GIBBs Alexanders and The Deweger (both of Holland), Ramboll of Denmark and Sandwell Inc, Canada. The reckoning at the GMB headquarters is that once the pre-qualification bids are done, the short-listed companies can make use of these reports and modify them to suit their requirements.

Come April 2005 and GMB will hope to add couple of notches to the already impressive portfolio of private initiative in the State's port sector. Even if one or two ports take off from the offered five, Gujarat will lead the country by many a nautical mile.