JNPT-PSA seals Rs. 8,000cr port project deal

In an attempt to achieve the targeted cargo handling capacity, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) in a recent move have signed an agreement to build the fourth container terminal at the port involving a staggering investment worth Rs. 8,000cr. The agreement for the contract involving the two parties was recently signed in the presence of PSA’s group chief executive officer, TanChong Meng and shipping secretary Vishwapati Trivedi and that the financial closure of the project would be achieved in the next 80 days.

The project in question is being funded through 100% foreign direct investment and is the fourth project by PSA in India as it currently operates container terminals in Kolkata, Tuticorin and Chennai ports commanding a total capacity of two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and the fourth container terminal would be built to handle the capacity of 4.8 million TEUs. According to an industry insider, the Adani Group was the only other player, which also bid for the project at 27% revenue sharing offer and others backed off for reasons that included the inadvertent rush by the government to award the project and lack of clarity on details of implementation. PSA made a winning bid of 35.7% royalty share. It may be recalled that PSA had also won the project earlier in partnership with ABG Ports but backed out at a later stage.