India's largest container port plans to invite bids to set up a liquid and a coastal berth in the next two months, in a push to public-private partnership under the National Maritime Policy 2030.
A detailed project report has been prepared for a 4.5-million-tonnes-per-annum liquid berth by Tata Projects Ltd., expected to cost around Rs 300 crore. The winner will contribute around Rs 100 crore to the project cost, Sanjay Sethi, chairman at Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Authority, said.
The state-run port is also planning to invite bids for a coastal berth, and the process is underway to award a 2.5-MTPA shallow water berth, which will together cost around Rs 380 crore.
"We have received bids for the shallow water berth. It will be awarded in two months' time. We are awaiting security clearance for the project," Sethi said.
Besides, the port is in the process of privatising its oldest, self-operated container terminal—the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal.
A consortium of Mumbai-based JM Baxi Group and France's CMA CGM subsidiary—CMA Terminals—has emerged as the highest bidder for a 30-year concession to privatise JNPCT.
As part of the industrialisation of the port-based 270-hectare land, the port has awarded around 35% of the land under the Special Economic Zone to companies such as Hindustan Infrastructure Projects of DP World, which are operating in the warehousing space.
JNPA expects to award the remaining 65% of the land in the next two to three years, an official told BQ Prime on the condition of anonymity.
Since the first PPP project was awarded in 1997, JNPA has received investments worth Rs 13,000 crore in five such partnerships. It includes investments from major international port and shipping companies such as DP World, PSA Singapore and APM Terminals, part of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, among others.
Overall, India has seen 34 PPP projects in the ports and shipping sector worth Rs 27,000 crore over the last 25 years. There are close to 35 projects worth Rs 14,500 crore that will be awarded by March 2025, the JNPA official quoted above said.
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