The Asian Development Bank has agreed to amend the conditions of its loan to the Sri Lankan government for building a new deep-water harbor near the Colombo port known as the South port. According to the ADB Country Director Richard Vokes, on the request of the Sri Lankan government, ADB agreed to give the loan first for the continuation of the harbor infrastructure construction work.
Sri Lankan Government will call for applications from the possible bidders and award the concession within the first 18 months of the disbursement. Earlier, the condition for the loan disbursement was, the government had to choose a company first and sent a letter of invitation to discuss about the concession agreement. Currently, the dredging process is going on. Hyundai has been doing the dredging since last December. In 2007, Sri Lankan government called for tenders to build and operate the first container terminal of the port known as the South terminal but cancelled bids due to controversy. The government could not decide between the two main competitors- PSA International Private Limited and Hutchinson Port Holdings. Lanka Business Online reports: The government has also started a new tender process for the terminal project after it cancelled the original one.
"The concept of the project as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) remains unchanged," Vokes said.
"In view of this, selection of the terminal operator following an open competitive procedure in accordance with Sri Lanka’s laws and procedures remains part of the amended loan agreement as well, with award of the concession to be within 18 months."
The Colombo port expansion project is the largest PPP project in Sri Lanka, Vokes said.
"The breakwater construction will now go ahead," he said. "ADB is very pleased to see the physical construction of the project start and looks forward to working with both the government and the ports authority in bringing the project to its successful completion. The project is on track, after a delay of a few months."
Fresh tenders for building and operating the South container will be called within July. This time, the request for proposal will also change and Sri Lankan government will also try to attract port operators who did not bid last year
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It will be a good decision by Sri Lankan government that they are going to attract the port operators too. In this way, the government would find out the skilled party who will be able to build the South container successfully.
Thanks for your interesting article.
Posted by: Biplob Kishore Deb | May 9, 2008 3:27 PM | Permalink to Comment