Although the financial and technical bids were opened on Thursday, according to Kandla Port Trust officials, the winner can be declared only after the chairman returns from his official visit to Delhi. The winner of the bid is expected to be formally announced on Wednesday.

With this, P&O will become the sole operator of the Kandla container terminal for the next 30 years. The 400 meter quayside, with a draft of 9.14 metres, is already constructed. However, there is no equipment. So far, the Kandla Port management was handling containers on thisquayside with equipment aboard the vessels. Despite this the port handled 85,000 containers. With all the new equipment that the new private operator will put in, the throughput is expected to be atleast three times as much. The private operator will also be given eight hectares of back up land for container stacking. After JNPT's private container terminal, the Kandla project is seen as one of the most lucrative privatisation projects offered by a major port. Besides the guaranteed traffic, Kandla is the closest gateway to north India, which is the latest generator of export and import cargo. Also talks are currently on with the railways, to improve hinterland connectivity, a factor that may give Kandla an edge over rival ports.

The operating contract for the Kandla container terminal is a significant one for P&O. It already has a container terminal under construction at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), Nhava Sheva, which is capable of handling 650,000 teus. The 30-year, $200-million project was to havereached financial close in December, which is now due in March.

Both contract combined will make P&O the largest private sector port operator on the western seaboard of India. The Kandla project is also good news for the company, which had to abandon its $2.7-billion mega-port project at Vadhavan following protest by the environmental lobby.

Kandla will also be another addition to P&O's Ports portfolio in the Indian subcontinent which includes Port Quasim in Pakistan and Colombo, Sri Lanka. This will also be the 19th facility that P&O Ports would be operating worldwide and the seventh in Asia.

The Australia headquartered company is also in the running for the operator contract at Bharathi container terminal at Chennai Port, where it is pitted against global majors - Hutchinsons and Port of Singaport Authority (PSA).