After thrashing out the differences over its revenue and traffic projections, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust is all set to sign concession agreement on extension of container terminal with the Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd in third week of December under the PPP mode.
The prestigious project mooted three years ago with an investment of Rs.633 crore to make Visakhapatnam a gateway on the East Coast for container traffic will finally take off with the VCTPL giving a letter of consent for signing the concession agreement on December 17.
A senior official of VPT confirmed the receipt of a letter from VCTPL and told The Hindu that a decision on date would be finalised in a few days. The letter of intent was issued by the VPT to VCTPL, a joint venture of DP World and United Agencies of India Ltd on December 30, 2013.
The VCTPL along with six others who bought bid documents have been asked to submit fresh proposals last year owing to offer of low percentage gross revenue share (GRS) by VCTPL. Later the port accepted the offer of 11.04 per cent of GRS by VCTPL, the lone bidder.
Due to delay in grounding the project, the cost of extending the terminal is said to have increased from Rs.850 crore to Rs.900 crore. Once all clearances are obtained, the timeline set for completion of the project is 24 months.
VCTPL, which entered into an agreement with VPT under PPP mode for developing a greenfield container terminal with one of the best natural drafts in the world, had launched its commercial operations on June 26, 2003 on its first phase project. A public hearing is also required for going ahead with the extension of the container terminal as it involved an investment of over Rs.500 crore.
