Mumbai-based marine consultancy provider, Zebec Marine Consultants and Services has emerged as the lowest bidder for carrying out feasibility studies to set up a container terminal at Tekra, about 5 kilometers from Tuna under the Kandla Port Trust (KPT).
In January this year, KPT had invited bids for appointment of technical advisor for carrying out feasibility studies for setting up a container terminal at Tuna-Tekra at Kandla Port.
"We had received 12 bids from the national and international players. One bid was disqualified while out of the remaining 11 bids, Zebec Marine Consultants emerged as the lowest bidder. Lowest bid was quoted at Rs 14 lakh, while the highest bid received was as high as Rs 1 crore for the study work," said a KPT official close to the development. The bids were opened on Thursday, August 23, 2012.
The work order will be assigned to the company by the end of next month after getting a formal approval from the competent authority, informed the official.
The technical consultant for the project would have to submit draft techno-economic feasibility report for the project within three months from the date of issuance of work order. While the final feasibility report for the project would be submitted within one month from the date of approval of draft report by KPT.
According to sources, some of the leading engineering consultants including Tata group-owned Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd and Consulting Engineering Services (India) Private Limited (CES) were in the fray for the project. The deadline for bid submission had ended on March 16, 2012.
Established in 2000, Zebec Marine provides design, engineering services and consulting solutions to the marine and offshore industry. In Gujarat the company has provided port planning services for development of Vansi Borsi port near Navsari in South Gujarat.
Currently, there are 12 cargo berths at Kandla Port, out of which 10 are for handling dry cargo and 2 berths are used for handling container cargo. The combined current capacity of the two container handling berths is about 7.2 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). Both the berths are operated by ABG Kandla Container Terminal Ltd (ABGKCT).
The existing berths are located within the Kandla creek, while the port has initiated steps to develop the port facilities outside Kandla creek i.e. at Tuna-Tekra in the Gulf of Kutch but within the KPT limits.
Recently, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) was awarded a Rs 1060-crore project to develop a dry bulk terminal for handling 14 million tones of cargo per annum at Tekra.
