Concession agreements for 4 Gujarat ports to expire in ten years

The concession agreements of four crucial ports in Gujarat – Pipavav, Mundra, Hazira, and Dahej – are set to expire in the next 10 years, and three of the port operators have already applied for an extension of their respective 30-year agreements, India Shipping News reported.

According to the Gujarat government, in 2011 and 2021, APM Terminals Pipavav, which operates the Pipavav port, applied for extension of its 30-year concession agreement of the port, which is set to expire on September 29, 2028. Similarly, Adani Port and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) also made similar applications in 2015 and 2021 for an extension of the agreement for Mundra, which ends on February 16, 2031.

Petronet LNG Ltd, with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, GAIL (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation as promoters, has applied for an extension of its agreement for Dahej port in 2012 and 2013. The concession agreement for Petronet LNG Ltd expires in December 2035

"Upon the request of various port operators whose concession agreements are set to expire in the next 10 years, discussions have been ongoing for several years regarding the policy to be followed in the future. No announcements have been made by the government regarding the extension of these agreements so far," the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) said in a statement

GMB stated that under the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) policy of 1997, it has entered into concession agreements with Pipavav, Mundra, Hazira, Dahej, Charra, and Jafrabad port, to help them develop over an initial 30-year period. Some of these agreements also have provisions for extensions, GMB stated, it also claimed that coastal states like Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh have concession agreements ranging, from 30 to 99 years.

The statement from the Gujarat government came after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Adani Group-which controls Mundra, Hazira, and Dahej ports-had requested the Gujarat government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to extend the concession period for the ports by another 45 years, making the total concession period 75 years. The Congress leader claimed that the Adani proposal "received clearances from all stakeholders required."

The fourth port in Gujarat for which the concession agreement expires is Hazira port. The concession agreement for this port, managed by Adani Hazira Port Ltd – a subsidiary of APSEZ – expires in April 2035.