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Bhubaneswar, Oct 7: Five infrastructure-development companies, including international major BHP-Billiton Minerals and Malaysia’s Integrax Burhart, have evinced interest for the development of Gopalpur Port on the east coast of Orissa.
Besides BHP-Billiton and Integrax Burhart, the other three companies who have responded to the request for qualification (RFQ) are Indian engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and state-based Orissa Stevedors Ltd (OSL).
While the first two companies have expressed their intention to develop the port on their own, the three others plan to form a consortium with one and two partners for the development of the port.
The Rail India Techno Economic Survey (Rites), consultant for the Orissa government to select a developer for Gopalpur Port, is expecting to pick up a bidder for the job by March 2005. Buoyed by the tremendous response to its invitation, the Indian Railway-owned consulting company is now preparing the documents for request for proposal (RFP) in consultation with the state government.
“The process of selecting a developer for the project would take about four- and-a-half months,” a top official involved in the project told FE. He said that efforts are on to finalise the selection by January, 2005, two months ahead of schedule.
The government has now decided to go for international competitive biddings (ICB). The project will be awarded on built-own-operate-share and transfer (BOOST) basis.
The government has spelt out a draft concession agreement in the bid advertisement. Since the project will be awarded on BOOST basis, the concession period will be 30 years with a scope for extension for another 20 years. The government has made it clear that the existing fixed infrastructure will be leased at an annual lease rent of Re 1. Besides, the developer will have the full freedom to set and revise tariffs for the services offered at the port. It will give a certain percentage of the gross income earned from the port operation to the state government.
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