Bothra Shipping, JM Baxi, OSL among winning Bidders

Giving a big impetus to its mission of becoming a landlord port Visakhapatnam Port Authority kickstarted the New year with a bang. The port authority recently gave out LoA’s i.e. Letter of Awards for 4 of its berths on PPP mode.

Allocated under the asset monetisation plan of VPA, berths WQ 7&8, EQ 7 and WQ 6 have now been awarded to private players to come and set up world class infrastructure.

‘Mechanization of these berths will infuse more investments, bring in more technology and importantly drive up productivity. Similarly we hope that this would further bring down the pollution levels in and around the port area too’ said VPA’s deputy Chairman, Mr Durgesh Kumar Dubey speaking exclusively to Vizag Industrial Scan.

These berths have been awarded for a proposed total investment of Rs 662 crores. In regards to the winning bids both WQ 7&8 berths have been awarded to Bothra Shipping consortium with AMNS for an estimated Rs 288 crores while WQ 6 has been awarded to OSL i.e. Orissa Stevedores Limited for an estimated Rs 170 crores.

Interestingly EQ 7 has been awarded to India Potash consortium with JM Baxi ports and logistics which also runs the two container terminals in Vizag port.

The EQ 7 berth has been allocated for an estimated Rs 201 crores.

Once commissioned this berth is being envisioned to substantially increase the handling of fertilizers at VPA.

‘EQ 7 could well become the most attractive fertilizer berth on the eastern coast of India’ said Mr Dubey.

VPA currently handles about 2.5 mtpa of fertilizers annually.