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Gammon Infrastructure Projects, a subsidiary of Gammon India, has claimed Rs 300 crore from the Mumbai Port Trust for delay in completion of a dredging project. It is in the process of examining Gammon’s plea, said trust Chairman Rajiv Gupta.
The company was awarded the Rs 1,400-crore Indira Container Terminal by the Mumbai Port in 2007, to be commissioned by 2010. The project is not operational. A senior company official said Mumbai Port has not been able to get the dredging work completed even after giving extensions to the contractor, Jaisu Shipping.
The trust had awarded the contract to Jaisu Shipping to dredge the channel in 2007. The first phase of the project was expected to have a capacity of 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) across 700-metre quay length. Thereafter, the plan was to extend it further to 1,050 metres.
Gammon Infra is also struggling to buy the stake of its Spanish partner, Dragados, which is keen to exit all its shipping businesses. Earlier, Gammon’s 12-crane order from Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co Ltd (SZPMC) had run into security hurdles. The shipping ministry had set a deadline of December 2013 to the project. However, according to experts, the future of the project looks bleak after a delay of three years.
In view of better capacity and hinterland connectivity, shippers have preferred to berth their vessels at the neighbouring Jawaharlal Nehru Port and at Adani’s Mundra port. “The project has had been long delayed. Now, with additional capacities coming in the neighbouring ports like JNPT, Hazira and Mundra, there could be overcapacity issues. Mumbai Port will have a tough time, at least till the economy picks up,” said a senior port sector analyst.
Even as Gammon is figuring out its strategy and is in search of a new investor, the Mumbai Port has lined up a host of projects it plans to award this year. The port is planning to award six projects, which are expected to add a capacity of more than 15 million tonnes per annum this year.
The port trust has received three bids in the request for qualification round for two multipurpose offshore berths with an estimated cost of Rs 696 crore. It will also float a tender for the harbour deepening project, a landside bulk cement facility in public private partnership mode. The combined cost of these projects is Rs 1,442 crore. Besides, the Mumbai port is also expecting a detailed project report for construction of a dedicated jetty for handling coal and chemical conveyor for mechanisation of coal handling operations.
The port has also been engaged in a dredging project in partnership with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port for deepening of a common 30-km long navigational channel. “The original channel belongs to us and we are bearing one-eighth of the cost of the project,” said Gupta.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
* Gammon Infrastructure Projects, a subsidiary of Gammon India, was awarded the Rs 1,400-crore Indira Container Terminal by the Mumbai Port in 2007
* The terminal was to be commissioned by 2010 but is not yet operational
* A senior company official said the Mumbai Port has not been able to get the requisite dredging work completed
