BackJN port terminal contract runs into stamp duty issue
JN port terminal contract runs into stamp duty issue
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Bangalore: The signing of the licence agreement for building a Rs6,700 crore new container terminal at Union government-controlled Jawaharlal Nehru port near Mumbai was deferred after the consortium that won the project in a public auction said it was not willing to bear the stamp duty for registering the document, two people familiar with the development said.
The signing ceremony was scheduled for Wednesday.
A consortium of PSA International Pte Ltd and ABG Ports Pvt Ltd was awarded the project in September last year after it emerged the highest bidder in a public auction. The PSA-ABG team had agreed to share 50.828% of its annual revenue with the port every year for 30 years for the facility that can load 4.8 million standard containers a year.
Spokespersons for the shipping ministry and JN port declined to comment. The PSA-ABG team could not be reached immediately for comment. The new terminal with a berth length of 2km can accommodate seven ships at a time, compared with two-three at other terminals in India where existing container terminal capacities currently range between one million and 1.5 million standard containers a year.
JN port has three container handling facilities—one run by the government-owned port itself, the second by DP World Pvt. Ltd and the third by a consortium comprising APM Terminals Management BV and state-owned Container Corporation of India Ltd. These three terminals are designed to handle only 3.6 million standard containers a year.
When fully operational, the capacity of the new terminal will be more than the combined capacity of the three terminals that currently operate at India’s busiest container port.
JN port, one of the 13 controlled by the Union government, handled 4.27 million standard containers in the year to 31 March 2011 from 4.09 million standard containers a year ago, clocking a growth of 4.9%.
The port cannot handle more containers unless it expands capacity.
JN port is expected to handle 11 million standard containers by 2016 and 23 million standard containers by 2020, according to a 10-year plan for ports unveiled by the shipping ministry in January.
p.manoj@livemint.com
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