No Takers for Vizhinjam Seaport Project
Despite the government of India extending a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of $ 131 mln (Rs 790 crore) to the $682 mln (Rs 4,089-crore )Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport project, no firm turned up for finalizing tender on Friday.
Following this, the opening of the tender for fixing the private partner for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project was extended for another month.
Even the three companies that purchased the Request for Proposal (RFP) documents- Adani, Essar and a consortium consisting of SREI and Spanish firm OHL-have not submitted tender documents as the deadline ended at 11 a.m.
The officials in the government aren’t brushing aside the possibility of heavy-duty foul play. The apparent lack of investor interest leaves the Kerala State government (Vizhinjam is in the state of Kerala) in a fix as it had been its controversial decision to tweak the financial model of the project.
Ports Minister K Babu expressed shock at Friday’s development, but said his government would investigate the foul-play angle.
Vizhinjam is sought to be developed as a container transshipment terminal with a capacity to load six lakh twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year initially. This can be scaled up to one million TEUs. The project will have a contract period of 40 years which can be extended by another 20 years.