PSA-ABG consortium wins contract for JNPT's 4th terminal
The Board of trustees of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust decided to award the contract for its fourth container terminal to the consortium of Singapore's PSA and the ABG group in India, The Hindu Business Line reports.
The project costing around Rs 6,700 crore will be the single largest foreign direct investment in the Indian port sector.
The terminal with a designed capacity to handle 4.8 million TEUs annually, on completion will more than double the JN port's capacity.
The consortium of PSA-ABG had emerged as the highest bidder agreeing to offer 50.8 per cent of the revenue to the Government.
But JNPT could not award the contract at the board meeting held last month as some of its trustees had raised doubts about the performance of ABG at Kandla Port in Gujarat where it is operating a terminal jointly with PSA.
Following this, the port trust had set up a committee, headed by its Deputy Chairman to study the performance of ABG at Kandla.
The committee has presented its report to the board.
The board was understood to be of the view that the performance of ABG group at Kandla was not of relevance to awarding the JN Port contract.
On Monday, the board has approved the PSA-ABG group's bid. The letter of intent has been issued to the consortium, a senior official said
Originally, five parties including DP World of Dubai, Sterlite Industries, GVK group and Adanis were in the race.
However, Adani could get the mandatory Government security clearance.
At the fourth terminal at JN port, ABG will be a minority partner holding 26 per cent stake, with PSA to hold the majority.
The JN port already has three terminals — two run by private parties and one by the port trust with a design to handle a total of 3.6 million TEUs a year.
But the port, one of the 13 major ports in the country, handled 4.27 million containers last fiscal, nearly five per cent more than it did in the previous year.
One of the two private terminals is run by DP World, a Dubai government-owned company, was also a bidder for the fourth terminal.
The other terminal is run by Gateway Terminals India - a joint venture between APM Terminals and Container Corporation of India.
The JN port handles more than half of the container traffic in the country.
The project costing around Rs 6,700 crore will be the single largest foreign direct investment in the Indian port sector.
The terminal with a designed capacity to handle 4.8 million TEUs annually, on completion will more than double the JN port's capacity.
The consortium of PSA-ABG had emerged as the highest bidder agreeing to offer 50.8 per cent of the revenue to the Government.
But JNPT could not award the contract at the board meeting held last month as some of its trustees had raised doubts about the performance of ABG at Kandla Port in Gujarat where it is operating a terminal jointly with PSA.
Following this, the port trust had set up a committee, headed by its Deputy Chairman to study the performance of ABG at Kandla.
The committee has presented its report to the board.
The board was understood to be of the view that the performance of ABG group at Kandla was not of relevance to awarding the JN Port contract.
On Monday, the board has approved the PSA-ABG group's bid. The letter of intent has been issued to the consortium, a senior official said
Originally, five parties including DP World of Dubai, Sterlite Industries, GVK group and Adanis were in the race.
However, Adani could get the mandatory Government security clearance.
At the fourth terminal at JN port, ABG will be a minority partner holding 26 per cent stake, with PSA to hold the majority.
The JN port already has three terminals — two run by private parties and one by the port trust with a design to handle a total of 3.6 million TEUs a year.
But the port, one of the 13 major ports in the country, handled 4.27 million containers last fiscal, nearly five per cent more than it did in the previous year.
One of the two private terminals is run by DP World, a Dubai government-owned company, was also a bidder for the fourth terminal.
The other terminal is run by Gateway Terminals India - a joint venture between APM Terminals and Container Corporation of India.
The JN port handles more than half of the container traffic in the country.