JNPT fourth terminal bidding delayed by two months

The bidding for the Rs6,700-crore fourth container terminal project at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) will be pushed ahead by at least two more months as the Union shipping ministry now expects the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the project only by July this year.

The ministry has received the bank guarantee of the shortlisted bidders, which expired in April, and extended till July this year. The guarantee could not be utilised as the SC verdict on one of the contending parties’ petition had not come by then.

Last year, the A P Moller-Maersk Group had filed a petition challenging the bidding process in the Bombay High Court, which rejected its plea. The group then moved the SC.

Speaking on the matter, a senior ministry official said, “We hope the SC ruling on the matter will come by the first week of July. Since the bank guarantee of the shortlisted bidders was valid only till April, they have extended it till July.”

The court has already heard the arguments from both the sides.
The ministry in April approached the SC for an early pronouncement of verdict in the case.

The fourth container terminal at JNPT was one of the key projects to be awarded in 2010-11.

The project, envisaging capacity creation to the tune of 4.8 million 20 feet equivalent units (TEUs), was approved by the cabinet committee on Infrastructure in January last year.

Bids were subsequently invited to develop it on a design, build, operate and transfer basis.

Infrastructure majors like DP World, Sterlite Industries, PSA International, Adani Enterprises and GVK lined up to grab the project.

The government though rejected the A P Moller-Maersk’s bid, which it challenged in the Bombay high court.

With the HC rejecting its plea, the company challenged it in the Supreme Court last year.

According to the ministry, the port would be required to handle container traffic to the tune of 10 million TEUs by 2014-15.

In order to handle the additional volumes, further terminal facility would be required. In view of this, it has been decided to develop a fourth container terminal as an extension of BPCL jetty and a chemical terminal.