JSW Infra's SPV to set up Rs 2,000 cr container terminal in Ratnagiri

ITD Cementation frontrunner for container terminal

At a time when the country’s port sector is battling with idle capacity due to lower traffic mainly from the bulk and container segment, JSW Jaigarh Port, a special purpose vehicle of JSW Infrastructure, is planning to set up a 1-kilometer-berth container terminal in Ratnagiri, sources close to the development told Business Standard.

“The bidding for this project is in the final stage and the project should be awarded this week,” said one of the sources.

ITD Cementation India, Simplex Infrastructure and L&T are among the shortlisted bidders for this terminal, which is budgeted at around Rs 2,000 crore, said sources.

Of the shortlisted bidders, ITD Cementation India is expected to be the frontrunner for this project, said the other source.

Once awarded, the terminal will take about 2 years to come onstream and so it is expected to be operational by January-February 2016.

JSW Jaigarh Port is also planning to set up a liquefied natural gas terminal of capacity 8 million tonne per annum at Jaigarh.

The LNG terminal project is expected to have a total investment of Rs 4,000-4,500 crore as the scope of work also includes landside infrastructure, said the source.

The Jaigarh port in Ratnagiri is operated by JSW Jaigarh Port, an SPV of JSW Infrastructure. The company was created to develop the port, on a build-own-operate-share-transfer basis, under a 50-year concession licensed by the State Government of Maharashtra.

Currently, the company’s port vertical operates terminals in Maharashtra and Goa that offer mechanised and multi-cargo handling facilities to the customers. It is connected by rail and road to the industrial hinterlands of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.