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Singapore-based port operator PSA International, which backed out of the fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port after winning the project in a global tender last year, is among those interested in bidding for the same project again.
A port official said PSA is among the half-a-dozen parties that responded to the request for qualification sought by the port again for the Rs 8,000 crore project.
Others in the race include DP World, Dubai, APM Terminals (both are existing terminal operators at JN Port) and Adani Group.
Last September, JNPT was forced to terminate the contract awarded to the PSA-led consortium as it refused to sign the concession agreement within the extended deadline. The Singapore Government-owned port company did not give any reason for pulling out of the project, which it won after agreeing to share 51 per cent of the revenues with the port.
Blacklisting
As a penalty, the JN port only encashed the bid money of Rs 65 crore, though it reportedly explored the possibility of blacklisting the bidder from participating in future projects.
Last month, the port trust again floated a tender for the same project.
The number of actual bidders will be known only after the pre-bid meeting later this week, the official said.
“PSA is eligible to bid for the project as there is no bar against it,” said the official.
In fact, Shipping Minister G. K.Vasan, was on record saying that as long as they (PSA) are not blacklisted, they will be allowed to bid again.
The terminal, to be executed as a private-public partnerships project, will increase the annual container handling capacity of the port by 4.8 million TEUs to nine million TEUs.
Earlier, the JNPT board, under the former chairman L. Radhakrishnan, had decided to split the project into two separate terminals to attract more bidders and complete the project early.
After he left the port, the board decided to reverse the decision and implement the project as a single terminal. A senior JNPT official said there were several factors that led the board to reverse its earlier decision.
Implementing the project as two separate terminals would have involved an additional investment of over Rs 1,500 crore for JNPT to create road and rail connectivity. Such huge investments by the port trust for a PPP project may not be in tune with the Government’s port privatisation policy. As a single project, the entire cost would be born by the bidder, he said.
Two separate projects could result in unfair advantage for one bidder in terms of revenue share in the event of disparity. This could lead to long-term issues in terms of quality of service etc.
“We have also made a minor change in the project plan so that it can be implemented without shifting the existing BPCL jetty. Shifting of this facility could lead to additional investment by the bidder and delays in getting approvals” he said.
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