3 firms in race for Kandla project

Gammon, Afcons, ABG in final lap; final bidding to take place this month

Infrastructure majors Gammon India Ltd, ABG Heavy Industries and Afcons Infrastructure are in the final race for the multi-crore container terminal development project to be set up at the Kandla port. The Kandla Port Trust (KPT) project is scheduled to be implemented in the first-half of the current fiscal year.

The port, which positions among the top three ports in the country, is planning to license the successful bidder to develop the terminal on a build, operate and transfer basis. KPT will be investing around Rs 150 crore in the project.

"Subsequent to the global tender issued by KPT, five companies were shortlisted in which two failed to qualify in the following round. The remaining bidders in the race are ABG, Gammon and Afcons. The final bidding will take place in this month. The project will be developed in stages and the initial investment will be around Rs 120 crore. KPT, which will invest another Rs 150 crore, has already spent Rs 50 crore to develop 11 berths in the port. Berth no. 12, which is at present under development by KPT, is expected to be ready by October 31, 2005," said A K Gadkari, chief mechanical engineer, KPT. The successful bidder in the final stage will be required to incorporate a special purpose vehicle prior to the execution of the licence agreement.

The terminal is proposed to be developed on berth numbers 11 and 12 with a combined quay length of 545 metre and a depth of 12.5 metre.

A murram filled area adjacent to these berths inside the custom bound area of the port admeasuring 40 hectare will also be handed over to the selected party for development of the container stack yard.

The successful bidder will also be required to commission full-fledged container handling operations at berth no. 12 with at least two new rail mounted quay cranes (RMQCs) within two years of signing the agreement.

"However, for berth no. 11 KPT will procure two RMQCs at its own cost and these cranes are proposed to be installed and commissioned by KPT at berth no. 11 within 12 months of signing the pact. Later it shall be handed over to the selected party. The bidder will be responsible to operate, manage, maintain, insure and replace these cranes during the term of the agreement," said Gadkari.

Kandla port, which is considered to be the number two among state-owned ports in the country, has been lacking a full-fledged container terminal.

It has been handling terminals without specialised facilities, thus giving an advantage to the Mundra Port, which is run by the Adani Group. The Mundra Port, India's first port in the private sector, has a full-fledged container terminal which is now being run by the P&O Ports Ltd.

At the end of the last fiscal year, KPT handed 1,70,000 twenty equivalent units (TEUs) of containers against 1,60,000-odd TEUs of containers handled during the fiscal year 2002-03.