The government receives nine EoIs for an international transshipment port project on Great Nicobar Island

The Ports Ministry has received expressions of interest (EOIs) from nine stakeholders in the Rs. 41,000 international transshipment port project on Great Nicobar Island in the Bay of Bengal, a senior government official said on Friday.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said in a statement that the project is expected to be completed with an investment of Rs 41,000 crore (US$5 billion), including investment from both the government and concessionaire public-private partnerships (PPP). .

“Nine stakeholders have submitted expressions of interest in the Great Nicobar Island International Terminal Project,” a senior government official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

The EOI was released on January 28th.

The planned port in Andaman and Nicobar Islands will have the ultimate capacity to handle 16 million containers per year and in the first phase, which is expected to be operational by 2028 at a cost of Rs 18,000 crore, it will exceed 4 million handle containers.

Other planned projects around the transshipment port include an airport, a community and a power plant.

The project is on the international trade route, with existing transhipment terminals such as Singapore, Klang and Colombo nearby.

The project focuses on three key factors that can lead to it becoming a leading container transhipment port – strategic location in terms of proximity (40 nautical miles) to the international shipping route, availability of over 20m natural water depth and carrying capacity of transshipment cargo from all Ports nearby, including Indian ports, according to the statement.

The proposed facility will be developed in four phases.

The estimated cost of Phase 1 of the proposed transshipment port is approximately Rs. 18,000 which includes the construction of breakwaters, dredging, land reclamation, berths, storage areas, buildings and utilities, procurement and installation of equipment and development of the port colony with core infrastructure to be included be expanded with government support.

Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) is funded for this project via the landlord mode. The PPP concessionaire will have the flexibility to develop storage area, container handling equipment and other infrastructure based on the concessionaire’s own market and business assessment, subject to guaranteed minimum traffic.

The concessionaire is granted a long-term PPP concession of 30 to 50 years (depending on requirements), is responsible for the provision(s) of port services and has the right to levy, collect and withhold fees from port users.

Currently, nearly 75 percent of India’s transhipped cargo is handled at ports outside India.

Colombo, Singapore and Klang handle more than 85 percent of this cargo, with more than half of it being handled in the Port of Colombo.

Source: News Network