The Hindu Business Line : Box terminal JNPT moves ahead of Mumbai port

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust's recent invitation to national and international port terminal operators to submit Expression of Interest bidsfor its fourth container terminal is likely to sound the death knell for the much-delayed Rs 1,200-crore Mumbai port's container terminal project, industry analysts say.

The bidding process for the Mumbai port terminal, which started long time ago, continues to face delays, with the Government still not decided on whether to give security clearance to Hutchison Port Holding, one of the 11 bidders. Cashing in on the neighbour's delay, JNPT was quick to flag off the bidding process for its fourth terminal, fixing the last date for submission of EoI bids as July 4. On the other hand, Mumbai port was once again forced to extend the deadline for its tender till July 19, with the security clearance issue still not sorted out at the Government level.

Incidentally, the chairperson of Mumbai port, Ms Rani Jadhav, is at present holding additional charge of Chairperson of JNPT, after Mr Ravi Budhiraja's term as Chairman ended on May 31.

Bidders move to JNPT

Now, as the deadline for EoI bids draws closer, all major Indian and foreign operators in the race for the Mumbai port project have now diverted their attention to the new terminal at JNPT. In fact, some of them seem no longer interested to remain in the race for the Mumbai port terminal project. They view the JNPT terminal as having more business potential than the proposed Mumbai terminal, especially as it would have a longer quay length compared to the proposed Mumbai terminal and the three existing terminals at JNPT.

According to sources, the initial response to JNPT's tender has been encouraging, with major foreign players, including Dubai Port World, Maersk, Port of Singapore Authority and Mitsui, apart from domestic players such as ABG Heavy Industries and the JM Baxi Group, showing interest in the project.

Most of these terminal operators are in the race for the Mumbai box terminal project.

Security issues

Mumbai port was keen to complete the bidding process before that of JNPT's fourth terminal, but the security clearance issue remained a major obstacle. Even the March meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security failed to come to a decision, with the issue getting referred to the National Security Advisory Council (NSAC). This made the Government ask Mumbai port to extend the deadline for submission of bids from March 16 to May 10. And with the issue still unresolved, the port had to once again extend the deadline first by a month and then by another month.

The security issue has been raised due to the proximity of the proposed terminal in Mumbai port to key naval installations in the neighbourhood.