India is slowly progressing in its port infrastructure development with many of the private ports and government owned ports planning to expand its operations by setting up new terminals. Projectmonitor picks three major developments in the Port Sector.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd
ONGC, Reliance Industries with BP, Indian Oil Corporation, and GAIL are among the eight firms in a race to acquire stakes in an LNG import terminal being planned at Mundra Port in Kachchh district of Gujarat. Petronet LNG, Torrent Energy, Japan’s Mitsui & Co, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation are the other four companies who bid for 25 per cent stake in the five million tpa LNG terminal of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.
GSPC had invited expression of interest for the 25 per cent stake in the project after Essar group, the third partner with a 25 per cent stake in the venture, exited from the terminal.
GSPC will hold 50 per cent stake while Adani Group will have 25 per cent share in the project. The project, estimated to cost Rs.4,000 crore, is to be financed in a debt to equity ratio of 70:30. The terminal with a handling capacity of 5 million tpa which can be expandable upto 20 million tpa will have two LNG storage tanks with LNG receiving, re-gasification and gas evacuation facilities. The project is expected to go on stream by the first quarter of 2016.
Meanwhile, the state government is mulling construction of another LNG terminal at Pipavav Port with 2.5 to 5 million tpa handling capacity. In early July this year, APSEZ through its subsidiary Adani Kandla Bulk Terminal Pvt. Ltd signed a concession agreement with the Kandla Port Trust, for setting up a dry bulk terminal at the Kandla Port on BOT basis, thus emerging as the only private sector port operator with presence across six ports in India.
Chennai Port
The Chennai Port Trust has decided to go in for a conversion plan of renovating the Jawahar Dock (East) berth into a small container terminal. The new plan has been proposed by the Trust as the earlier proposal of setting up a mega container terminal at an investment of Rs.4,200 crore has received poor response from the bidders.
The Jawahar Dock (East) berth, which used to handle coal few years back, is not in use at present as coal handling has been shifted to Ennore port. Thus, the Port Trust has decided to convert the berth by setting up a small container terminal with a handling capacity of 8,00,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) a year. The terminal once complete would compete with the two existing container terminal operated by DP World Chennai and Chennai International Terminals of the Port of Singapore Authority.
In May this year, the Port Trust planned for bulk handling project at an investment of Rs.275 crore at the JD East berth on DBFOT basis. The Trust invited proposals from financial consultants and transaction advisors for the PPP project. However, the Port Trust has to change its plans to a container terminal as suggested by Jacobs Engineering India, a consultant, who evinced interest in the project. The project would be set up with a 30-year concession period. But, according to sources, the berth would have to undergo a lot of modifications before handing it to a private player.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust has proposed to develop a new liquid terminal on public private partnership basis at Nhava Sheva in Mumbai. The project, estimated to cost Rs.1,800 crore, will have a handling capacity of 15 million tpa. It will comprise a liquid jetty and a tank farm spread over 70 ha. The project would come up on JNPT’s land.
The Port Trust is likely to float tenders by the end of August or early September for the project.
