"Three companies had submitted their bids to become consultants for JNPT's EPZ. IL&FS has quoted the lowest. So in the next board meeting, IL&FS's bid will be cleared," a top JNPT offfical said.
JNP handles about 60 per cent of the country's container cargo.
The major players who submitted the bids are IL&FS and Ernst & Young. IL&FS has quoted Rs 72 lakh and Ernst & Young quoted Rs 2.5 crore, the official said.
IL&FS is a infrastructure development and finance company. It is promoted by Central Bank of India, HDFC and UTI.
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The port in December 2007 floated a tender to hire a consultant to draw up a master plan for the EPZ keeping in view a synergy with port operations.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which started commercial operations in 1989, had acquired 2,500 hectare of land for its long-term requirements. Out of this 1,300 hectare have been utilised so far for port-related activities.
The port is designed to handle 50 million tonnes of cargo a year and handle upto 4 million TEUs.
In March, JNPT board cleared the key fourth container terminal project that would double its capacity to 8 million TEUs.