Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Sep 26, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Sep 26, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logistics
-
Shipping Ministry mulls mix of models to develop JNPT terminal P. Manoj
New Delhi , Sept. 25 THE twists and turns in the bidding process for the development of a third container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has thrown up a rather interesting model for privatisation of container terminals at major ports. At the suggestion of the Shipping Ministry, the board of trustees of JNPT on September 23 discussed a plan to adopt a mix of the revenue share and the minimum guaranteed throughput (MGT) models for the new container terminal which is expected to cost about Rs 800 crore. The Union Government had kicked off the port privatisation programme in 1996 with the MGT model, which was discarded in favour of the revenue share model in 2000. Shipping Ministry officials said that the plan to adopt a mix of models was supported by the trustees. The board has also decided to defer the last date for submission of bids by two months from September 30 to December 1. "While deciding to retain the MGT clause, the successful bidder will be identified on the basis of the revenue share model, with the bidder quoting the highest percentage of revenue share to the port trust winning the deal," a Ministry official said. As per the MGT clause being finalised, the private entity operating the terminal will have to handle 1.4 lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first year of operations and touch 1.3 million TEUs in the seventh year. "The Government's risk will be less irrespective of traffic in this model. It will bring in revenue share whether he does business or not," the official added. Besides, there will be penalties for non-performance of the MGT clause. If there is an MGT of five lakh TEUs and only four lakh TEUs are handled, there will be 100 per cent penalty on the shortfall. The board has also decided to seek proof of tie-up between the bidder and the terminal operator well before the submission of financial bids. The bidder will have to submit a legally binding MoU at the request for proposal (RFP) stage giving details of the terminal operator to be engaged as management contractor. The management contract tie-up should be in force for a minimum period of four years. However, the successful bidder can change the terminal operator before or after four years with the consent of the Government. The port will seek upfront proof of management tie-up only in the case of those bidders who do not meet the eligibility criteria of operating a box terminal with an annual average throughput of not less than 6.50 lakh TEUs, as prescribed by the JNPT. The board has deferred a formula suggested by the Ministry to grant 40 per cent weightage to the technical strength of the bidder and 60 per cent weightage to the price bid for the evaluation of the proposals submitted by the private entities. The port trust management will discuss the changes with the short-listed bidders before issuing a revised RFP from them. Maersk, PSA Corp, West Port, NYK Line, Stevedore Services, CSX World Terminals, Marubeni Corp, Sea King Infrastructure, United Liner agencies and CMA are those in the fray for the project.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|