Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT) has decided to award the controversial tender for mechanisation of Haldia berths numbered two and eight to ABG Infraslogistics after a Trustee Board meeting, marked by high drama, as one of the labour union leaders, against awarding the tender voted in favour of the motion.
KoPT sources confirmed that the tender was awarded to ABG, and now the Board would intimate the Tendering Committee about the development. "The award of tenders is not subject to any condition. The Board is the tender accepting authority and it has decided to award it to ABG", the highly placed source clarified.
Of the 22 member Trustee board, 17 were present and nine voted in favour of awarding the tender to ABG Infralogistics, the L1 or lowest bidder for the job of mechanisation of the berths numbered two and eight at Haldia dock. ABG had quoted Rs 69 per tonne for berth two and Rs 80 per tonne for berth eight, beating Sical Logistics and Tata Steel-Ripley joint venture.
The tender was floated in November 2007 and the price bid was opened in April 2008. However, the letter of intent(LoI) could not be issued in favour of ABG in the wake of the opposition from a section of officers as well as members of the Board of Trustees of the port. The Board could not arrive at a consensus when they last met on the issue on February 23.
In a surprise move, Parvati Das, a leader of the Calcutta Port Srameek Union(CPSU), a wing of Hind Majdur Sabha, voted in favour of the motion, said sources in 'Haldia Dock Bachao Committee'(HDBC), an umbrella organisation of the five unions operating at the KoPT.
Das was party to the public interest litigation(PIL) filed by the HDBC at the Calcutta High Court(HC), against awarding the tender to ABG alleging corruption and inconsistencies in the process. "The HC did not issue any stay order on the process, however", clarified the source.
KoPT has already received clearance from the Election Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) for issuing the tender. The contract was for supply, operation and maintenance of different cargo handling equipment including mobile harbour cranes at berth number two and eight of Haldia dock for a period of 10 years.
According to the terms and conditions of this tender, the port will be able to charge for loading-unloading directly from the trade or users of the port and pay the stevedores' charges to ABG. Currently, the stevedore collects the charge from the trade directly, while KoPT collects port charges separately from the
According to ABG, the deal will enable the port to charge around Rs 130 per tonne for handling cargo at berth two and eight. At present, the port charges around Rs 40 per tonne while the stevedores charge between Rs 100-Rs 200 per tonne. Hence, one has to pay Rs 120-240 per tonne as handling charges.
KoPT sources said, the deal was not coming through as stevedores had vested interest in thwarting the process. Currently stevedores stood to lose the most as they would not be able to quote such high amounts from the trade any further. While ABG handled nearly 66 per cent of the entire container traffic at the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) currently, it was not under build-operate transfer(BOT) basis.
A leader in the Haldia Dock Officers' Forum(HDOF) who did not want to be identified, however, alleged of misconduct in the Board proceedings and that the decision was pending. HDBC had earlier threatened to go on strike if the tender was awarded to ABG. Around 3,600 workers at the port could go on strike in that case. When contacted, HDBC informed that they would take a call on the issue on Monday.
