Fresh bids for Rs 130-cr Ganga cruise project in mid-Jan 2010

The Rs 130-crore Ganga Heritage River Cruise project in West Bengal may become a reality soon as the government has agreed to the demands of private investors and will issue new bids for it by mid-January.

"We and the Centre have agreed to the changes sought by them (investors). There will be re-tendering for the river cruise project in mid-January and this time we expect a better response from private investors," West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director T V N Rao said here.

Private investors were demanding that the Centre's investment in the public-private-partnership (PPP) project of Rs 32 crore should be treated as a grant or subsidy rather than equity. They also wanted allotment of some land. In the previous tender, only three firms had been shortlisted and of them only one investor had given financial bid, Rao said.

The project would offer a river cruise to tourism destinations along the Ganga, starting from Kolkata and going upstream to Murshidabad and downstream to the Sunderbans.

IL&FS, the consultants to the project said that the Centre will give a grant of 25 per cent of the project cost. "WBTDC will have 26 per cent share while 74 per cent will be held by the private investor," IL&FS Vice-President Sudip Datta said. Under the previous tender, the private investor was supposed to get 50 per cent stake and the rest would have been divided between the Centre and the state.

Rao said the state government has also agreed to give 2-3 acres of land for anchorage and tourists facilities. The previous EoI had closed in October 2008, which had three bidders including international players.