The government has finally given the green signal for the development of the third container terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. The Maersk-Concor consortium is required to sign the licence agreement by August-end.
The consortium will have to pay Rs 16 crore (Rs 160 million) as the bid security amount and Maersk, the major party (with 74 per cent stake), will have to form a special purpose vehicle to execute the project within eight weeks.
"With Concor, which is a 26 per cent partner in the consortium, also getting permission from the railway ministry to go ahead with the project, the decks have been cleared for operations to start at the third terminal," a shipping ministry official said.
The Maersk-Concor consortium had emerged the highest bidder, quoting a revenue share of 35.5 per cent. The government's sanction took five months to come, with the ministry officials attributing the delay to the elections. They cited the election code of conduct as the reason for which the contract could not be granted till now.
However, the privatisation process was mired in controversy, with the government facing a lot of opposition to the award of the contract to Maersk-Concor.
As many as three public interest litigations had been filed, two in the Bombay high court and one in the Nagpur high court, against the contract.
The objections raised in the PILs related to concerns over a private party controlling the terminal. While one of the PILs said the government had lost money on the deal, another raised security concerns.
Even P&O, which operates the neighbouring Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal, had written to JNPT and the shipping ministry expressing reservations over Concor, which has a monopoly over hinterland transportation to containers, being a partner in the contract.
Although the courts have not decided on the PILs as yet, the government has planned to go ahead with the approval, according to ministry sources. As per the tender document, the sanction will have had to be awarded last week failing which the government will have had to go for a fresh round of bidding.
Meanwhile, the government has started work on privatising the fourth terminal for container handling. "The port trust has conducted preliminary surveys and is on the lookout for consultants for preparing feasibility reports. The privatisation of the fourth terminal will be put on the fast track to ease the congestion problem at JNPT," the ministry official said.
