Thiruvananthapuram: Ahmedabad-based Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), was the only one of five pre-qualified port operators to put in an offer to construct the INR40.89bn ($650m) Vizhinjam port in Kerala, when the deadline for price bids ended on April 24 evening.
APSEZ’s bid, however, came with a rider – that it would be given a grant of INR16.35bn, to be brought in by the central government and Kerala state government, as viability gap funding.
The figure works out to 40% of the estimated total cost of building the port, and will be split equally between the central and state governments. The latter will collect from the private operator, from the 16th year of operations, a premium which will be equivalent to 1% of the gross revenue from the facility.
The four pre-qualified bidders who failed to put in price bids were Gammon Infrastructure Projects, Essar Ports, and two consortia – one comprising SREI Infrastructure Finance with Obrascon Huarte Lain SA, and the other a joint venture between Concast Infratech and Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co.
Any business man who develops the port, he should try to emulate the KRISHNAPANAM port, a private port who helped the local people also with their NGO CVR foundation.