The Hindu Business Line : Vizag port shortlists bidders for coal handling project

Kolkata, Oct. 19 The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) has shortlisted five consortia and one firm, a total of six, from among those that responded to the Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the proposed mechanisation of coal handling facilities and upgradation of general cargo berths at its outer harbour to cater to 200,000-dwt capacity vessels.

The five consortia are Sterlite Industries-Leighton Contractors (I) Pvt Ltd, Vadinar Oil Terminal Ltd-Essar Ports & Terminal Ltd, Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd-John Laing Investment Ltd, IMICO-Punj Lloyd and Mundra Port & SEZ Ltd-Adani Enterprises Ltd. The solo bidder is L&T Transco.

The first RFQ was invited in December 2007. It was subsequently cancelled and a fresh RFQ was invited in September last year. The last date for submission of the Request for Proposal was first set as October 15, subsequently changed to October 30.

On completion of the project, targeted at November 2011, the port’s capacity for handling imported coal will be up by five million tonnes annually. The estimated cost is Rs 440 crore.

This is part of additional 10 mt capacity VPT proposes to create for handling imported coal, the other plan being the development of EQ-1A berth in the inner harbour to handle steam coal and coke. For this, the RFQ was issued on June 30. The last date for submission of the application was August 12.

Subsequently, however, two corrigenda were issued, one incorporating changes in the scope of mechanisation of the berth and the other suggesting changes in several parameters, to be issued later. The original cost of the project, to be implemented under DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) was fixed at Rs 344 crore.

Till date this fiscal, VPT handled 5.73 mt of coal imports, comprising 4.03 mt coking coal and 1.7 mt steam coal, compared with 6.5 mt in the same period last year, comprising 5.4 mt of coking coal and 1.1 mt of steam coal.

In 2008-09, the total throughput of imported coal was 9.5 mt, including 7.6 mt of coking coal and 1.9 mt of steam coal against 9.3 mt in 2007-08, including 7.5 mt of coking coal and 1.8 mt of steam coal.

Now, VPT does not have full rake loading facility critical for evacuation of the imported material. The work is in progress to have eight full rake loading facility against the present nine half rake facility, according to VPT sources.