The Hyderabad based Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL), which signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for developing an all weather port at Astaranga in Puri district in December 2008, has sought waiver of the ‘clearance’ clause in the MoU for signing the concession agreement.
It has pleaded before the government that it should be allowed to sign the concession agreement without asking it to obtain all the statutory clearances, as was the case with other port developers. NECL has expressed its desire to sign the concession agreement at the earliest so as to expedite the project work. The company signed the MoU with the state government on 22 December 2008 and the concession agreement is required to be signed within a year, unless extended by the state government. Since some of the port developers were not seriously pursuing their projects after signing the MoU, the state government had inserted a clause seeking the developer to obtain all the statutory clearances before signing the concession agreement.
“We are in the process, the matter will be decided at the highest level”, Satyabrata Sahoo, secretary, C&T, Orissa government, told Business Standard.
Sources said, the department has already moved a proposal in this regard and it is awaiting the approval of the C&T minister. The company intends to invest Rs 1500 crore in the first phase, Rs 2000 crore in the second phase and Rs 2,500 crore in the third phase taking the total investment in the project to Rs 6,000 crore.