Over 10 EoI’s Received for Developing Great Nicobar Port

The Great Nicobar port is to be developed in four phases with a total capacity of 16 million tonnes of container cargo handling per year

Cap: Pic for Representation only

Padmesh Prabhune

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has received over 10 EoI’s (Expressions of Interest) for the proposed Rs 48,000 crore transhipment port project at Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar Island in the Bay of Bengal.

Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister, MoPSW, said, “We have received over 10 EoIs for the Gibraltar Bay port, and a few more players and leading shipping liners, including international ones have reached out to us saying that they are interested in bidding for the project. So let’s see how this works out. As of now, the initial trends or interest levels are encouraging.”

The EOI was released earlier this year in January, and according to reports those who have placed EoIs include Adani Ports & SEZ, JSW Infra, RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd), and Container Corporation. International players include the likes of Dutch dredging major Royal Boskalis Westminister.

The government will look at a PPP mode via the landlord model; or an hybrid annuity model could also be considered because of the high value nature of investments. The concessionaire could also be awarded a long term PPP concession and can make his own investments in infrastructure subject to minimum guaranteed traffic.

The Great Nicobar port is to be developed in four phases with a total capacity of 16 million tonnes of container cargo handling per year.

In the first – to be commissioned under an initially announced timeline of 2028 – around 4 million tonnes of cargo handling capacity is expected to come up at a proposed investment of  Rs 18,000 – 20,000 crore. Construction will include berths, storage areas, and Port colonies.

Sonowal noted that clearances are being worked on for the port and Great Nicobar port will act as a feeder port to these two; apart from itself being a trans-shipment port to shipments from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Majority of India’s transshipped cargo is handled in ports outside of the country with Colombo port handling the majority of international transshipped cargo.

–Marex Media

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