BackJNPT to float global tender for deepening harbour channel
JNPT to float global tender for deepening harbour channel
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Mumbai: The 20-year-old Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Sunday said that it will float a fresh global tender for deepening and widening of main harbour channel after the monsoon.
“The geo-technical study for the project is currently on. As soon as we receive the report, we will float a fresh tender inviting bids from the interested parties to carry out the deepening and widening of main harbour channel," JNPT chairman Syed Shahzad Hussain told PTI here.
JNPT had thought of doing the dredging and widening of main harbour channel work and had the environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest back in March 2004. But, the validity of the earlier called tenders expired.
“We are in the process of re-inviting tenders after re-estimating. Tenders for soil investigation are re-invited and under evaluation," Hussain said.
“The cost of the project was initially Rs850 crore, which might go up this time," he said.
The deepening and widening of main harbour channel would enable the port to increase the drought to 14.5 meters from 12.5 meters now and thus allow the port to get larger vessles for better economy of scale.
Meanwhile, Hussain said that as much as 20 parties have evinced interests to the request for qualification (RFQ) for developing its ₹ 6,700 crore fourth container terminal within the JNPT.
“We have received Letter of Intents from 20 big names from the marine sector for the development of the fourth terminal in our port. These inculde DP World, ABG and PSA among others," Hussain said.
JNPT envisages that the port would require to handle the container traffic to the tune of 8 million TEUs in the year 2015-16, he said, adding that the port was planning to develop the fourth container terminal as an extension of the existing BPCL jetty along with the marine chemical terminal on BOT basis.
The Rs6,700 crore work would be done in two phases, Hussain said.
JNPT, he said, is expecting to handle 63 million tones of cargo in the current fiscal,up by 10% over 2008-09.
“We handled 57.29 million tones of cargo in 2008-09. This is a 3% increase over 2007-08 which stood at 55.8 million tones," Hussain said.
The economic situation is improving. Though, the lull in exports still persists, imports are improving. I believe, our target for the current fiscal is achievable, he said.
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