Dighi Port Contract To Be Awarded By May

The contract for Dighi, the second of the seven minor ports for which the Mharashtra government had floated a tender, will be awarded in the next two to three months.

Announcing this at the concluding day of the Advantage Maharashtra conference chief executive officer of the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) R R Sinha said certain clarifications have been sought from the bidders. He, however, did not elaborate on the nature of the clarifications. At least three companies, including Shahi Shipping and Mazagon Dock, have submitted bids for the project.

The tender had been floated on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis in mid-1996 and the bids had been submitted in December.

Seven of the 48 minor ports in the state which had been offered for privatisation are Alewadi, Dighi, Anjanvel, Jaigad, Ganeshghule, Vijaydurg and Redi. The Alewadi contract has already been awarded to the Australian shipping major P&O Australia Ports. However, the site has been changed to Vadhawan. Prime Minister Deve Gowda handed over the letter of intent on Monday.

The tender for Ganeshghule, Vijaydurg and Redi has been floated only last week. According to MMB projections Ganeshghule is expected to handle 5.6 million tonnes of cargo annually by the year 2000 and 8.10 million tonnes by 2010. The port will have four berths by 2000 which will go up to six by 2010. The cost of construction of the port is pegged at Rs 770 crore.

Similarly, the cost of construction of Vijaydurg is pegged at Rs 294 crore. It is expected to handle one million tonnes of cargo by the year 2000 and 2.5 million tonnes by 2010.

Redis is expected to handle 4.5 million tonnes of cargo by the year 2000 and 8.5 million tonnes by 2010. The last date for submission of bids for the three ports is July 3 and a pre-bid conference will be held on March 25.