Nine prospective bidders, including global shipping majors, today attended the pre-bid meeting of the Rs 1,460-crore container terminal project at Ennore port.

The top concern for the bidders was road and rail connectivity to the port for speedy evacuation of containers.

Companies such as Port of Singapore Authority, DP World (both operate container terminal at the nearby Chennai port), A.P. Moller and Adani have shown interest in the project, said a senior official of the Ennore Port who was present in the meeting but did not want to be named.

In the meeting, the port officials assured the bidders that by June next, the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panjeti road will be ready. This will provide connectivity from the port to National Highway 5 connecting Chennai and Kolkata. Similarly, the port committed that the railway connectivity would be provided north of the container terminal.

The bidders want timely completion of the connectivity projects. “We have given the commitment, and they were happy with the explanation,” he said.

RFQ submission

The next stage will be opening of the Request for Qualification (RFQ) or technical qualification. On request from the bidders, the date of RFQ submission has been extended by 10 days to July 22, he said.

The project will have a capacity to handle 1.4 million twenty foot equivalent units. The port had earlier selected container terminal operator Bay of Bengal Container Terminal’s consortium to operate the terminal. But, the contract was terminated in October over delays in finalising funds.

Depending up on the business climate, the private player will decide on how to go about developing the new container terminal. It can be in one phase or two, the official said.

The port lost nearly two years to build the terminal, only to witness the development of a terminal at the adjacent Kattupalli Port by Larsen & Toubro.

raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

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