Vallarpadam bidding to start in January

The Cochin Port Trust has decided to invite fresh bids for the Rs 2,000-crore Vallarpadam transhipment terminal in January next year. The port expects to finalise a bidder by March 31.

The project will be undertaken on a build-operate-transfer basis with a concession period of 30 years.

To ensure a better response this time, the port had altered few clauses of the previous concession agreement to make it more flexible, according to a port official.

According to the new document, those parties which were handling half-a-million TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent units) per annum will be able to bid. The previous bid document allowed parties which handled 1.5 million TEUs per annum to bid.

"We expect to wrap up the bidding process soon and will be using the earlier concession agreement as the blueprint, with certain changes," the official said.

The port had already appointed Infrastructure Development and Finance Company as the financial consultant, he added.

This is the fourth time in the last eight years that the trust has called for bids. The last round was abandoned due to lack of interest from the private parties who sought further relaxations.

In fact, Maersk Sealand and CSX Terminals were the only parties which were left in the race.

The private party will have to boost the traffic at the Rajiv Gandhi Terminal from 165,000 TEUs to 6 million TEUs within 10 years before it can shift to Vallarpadam. The original bid document stipulated five years operating time.

The emphasis this time would be on achieving substantial traffic at RGCT, the official said.

Moreover, the port will appoint an independent advisor to assess the value of equipment at the RGCT that would be transferred to the bidder.