PSA International and ABG Ports said they were not obliged to extend the validity of their joint bid for developing and operating a new container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru port beyond 30 September, reported The Mint.
The response comes after the trust that runs India's busiest container port decided to set up a six-member panel to examine the performance of ABG, PSA's local partner, at Kandla port, ahead of approving the bid.
"We are not obliged to extend the validity of the price bid and bank guarantee of “US$14.58 million beyond 30 September," a spokesman for the PSA-ABG consortium said after top executives from the two firms met in Mumbai to discuss the situation.
"A decision whether to extend the bid validity and bank guarantee beyond 30 September will be taken if JN port requests us to do so."
PSA International, the world's second biggest container port operator, has a 74 percent stake in the joint venture that won the global tender in June for the new terminal that will allow the port to load four million TEUs a year in addition to the 4.27 million TEUs it already does. On a debt-equity ratio of 60:40, PSA's 74 percent equity share in the project will work out to about “$435.21 million, making it the biggest single foreign direct investment in an Indian port project.
PSA International is fully owned by Temasek Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.
"The test of responsiveness to determine the capability of a bidder to implement the project has to be determined prior to the opening of price bids. After opening the financial bid, you cannot seek to revisit the qualification requirements and the test of responsiveness," a spokesman for the consortium said, adding that it had qualified for the bid on the strength of PSA, which handled 65.12 million TEUs from 29 terminals globally in 2010.
The response comes after the trust that runs India's busiest container port decided to set up a six-member panel to examine the performance of ABG, PSA's local partner, at Kandla port, ahead of approving the bid.
"We are not obliged to extend the validity of the price bid and bank guarantee of “US$14.58 million beyond 30 September," a spokesman for the PSA-ABG consortium said after top executives from the two firms met in Mumbai to discuss the situation.
"A decision whether to extend the bid validity and bank guarantee beyond 30 September will be taken if JN port requests us to do so."
PSA International, the world's second biggest container port operator, has a 74 percent stake in the joint venture that won the global tender in June for the new terminal that will allow the port to load four million TEUs a year in addition to the 4.27 million TEUs it already does. On a debt-equity ratio of 60:40, PSA's 74 percent equity share in the project will work out to about “$435.21 million, making it the biggest single foreign direct investment in an Indian port project.
PSA International is fully owned by Temasek Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.
"The test of responsiveness to determine the capability of a bidder to implement the project has to be determined prior to the opening of price bids. After opening the financial bid, you cannot seek to revisit the qualification requirements and the test of responsiveness," a spokesman for the consortium said, adding that it had qualified for the bid on the strength of PSA, which handled 65.12 million TEUs from 29 terminals globally in 2010.