WASHINGTON: The Adani Group is inching closer towards establishing its presence in the port sector in Andhra Pradesh by being the lone company to submit financial bids for developing the minor Bhavanapadu port in Srikakulam district. According to senior officials of the ports department, of the three firms which had earlier submitted technical bids for developing the port, Gangavaram Port and Krishnapatnam Port backed out of the project leaving only the Adani group to submitt he financial bids. A senior ports department official said, “We have received one bid only for the project, which is from the Adani Group. Now, an evaluation committee will review the bid submitted by the Adani Group and decide on whether to go ahead with them as the developer for the project or not.”
Confirming the development, a senior AP government official said, “Yes, we have received the bid from the Adani Group. The government will take a decision after evaluating the proposal submitted by the company.” The official said the decision would be taken based on the revenue share that has been offered to the state government in the proposal. According to documents submitted by the state government to the ministry of environment and forests for obtaining environment clearance, the proposed Bhavanapadu Port is expected to have a total capacity of 30.57 million tonnes. The total berths proposed is 14 with five berths in the first phase and the remaining nine berths in the second phase.
The state government intends to develop Bhavanapadu port with the support of a private developer to handle all types of cargo such as bulk, break bulk, container and liquid materials. The Bhavanapadu port site was selected also due to its proximity to mineral rich states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and southern Odisha. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 3,725 crore apart from Rs 650 crore estimated for land acquisition. According to the pre-feasibility study by Incap (Infrastructure Corporation of AP), the project of developing a modern port near Bhavanapdu is technically and economically viable even under the worst cases of risk analysis.
