A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to annul the environment clearance granted to Deendayal Port Authority for building capacity expansion projects has halted the signing of a concession agreement with the Indian unit of Dubai’s DPWorld Ltd for a mega container terminal at its satellite facility in Tuna Tekra.
Hindustan Infralog Pvt Ltd trounced India’s biggest private port operator, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), by a wide margin to win the deal in late January.
The global port operator owned by the Dubai government placed the highest royalty of Rs6,500 for a twenty-foot equivalent unit or TEU to
emerge the successful bidder for the project.
APSEZ, the only other bidder to submit a price bid, quoted Rs1,500 per
TEU as royalty. The planned container terminal with a capacity to handle 2.19 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year will cost Rs4,243.64 crore to build from scratch.
The PIL was filed in the Gujarat High Court a few days after the tender
was awarded to DPWorld. “The signing of the concession agreement has been held up due to the PIL,” an official at Deendayal Port Authority said. “The court has not granted a stay on the project; we are trying to convince DPWorld to sign the concession agreement,” he added.
A concession agreement sets out the terms and conditions of a port
contract and puts the project in motion. Notably, the PIL was filed two years after the clearances were granted. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as well as the Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) granted environmental and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearances in 2016 to the port authority for seven integrated facilities within port area, and for three other facilities in 2020.
The petitioners alleged that the clearances were sought by concealing
information on the presence of mangroves in the area. This was allegedly
done to avoid restrictions, and the port authority as well as the GCZM failed to exercise due diligence by verifying the presence of mangroves ahead of granting green clearance.
The PIL said that the area falls within the CRZ-1A category per CRZ
notification of 2011. But the CRZ nod was granted under CRZ-1(B), CRZIII and CRZ-IV categories.
Challenging the clearances granted under allegedly wrong categories,
the petitioners have sought to annual the approvals given by the Ministry
of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.
The PIL also sought directions from the court to the Ministry of
Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and the GCZMA to consider
the clearances afresh per the CRZ notification of 2011 and other
applicable rules.
Deendayal Port Authority runs the country’s biggest state-owned port by
volumes handled and the nation’s second largest at Kandla in Gujarat.
Tuna-Tekra is a satellite facility located some 15 kms away.
The Tuna-Tekra container terminal forms a part of the National
Infrastructure Pipeline of the government.
The planned box terminal will be designed and equipped to handle ships
that can carry more than 18,000 TEUs. Initially, the terminal will have a depth of 14.5 metres without tidal restrictions. There is a provision in the tender to increase the depth to 18 metres based on mutual consensus between the two parties and on cost sharing basis.
Once constructed, the terminal will help unlock future container traffic
growth in India, catering to exports and imports from Northern, Western
and Central India, reducing logistics cost and enhancing efficiencies
across supply chains, DPWorld said on 2 February after the port
authority awarded the project.
“As the value chain becomes more integrated, significant growth
opportunities exist across the entire Indian ports and logistics space,”
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DPWorld said
on 2 February.
“With the development of the Tuna Tekra mega-container terminal in
Gujarat, DPWorld will be well placed to capture these opportunities,
further connecting Northern, Western and Central India with global
trade and driving value for all our stakeholders. This is yet another step
in our collective efforts with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to leverage our expertise in logistics infrastructure and local
knowledge to further strengthen India’s supply chain,” he added.
The new terminal will be constructed and equipped with most modern
facilities and equipment over an area of about 63 hectares. The terminal
will be connected to the hinterland through a network of roads,
highways, railways, and the Dedicated Freight Corridors.
DPWorld already operates five marine terminals – two in Mumbai, one
each in Mundra, Cochin and Chennai – with a combined capacity of
some 6 million TEUs. The Tuna Tekra terminal will help DPWorld
expand its Indian terminal capacity to 8.19 million TEUs.
DPWorld also runs seven multimodal inland terminals connected to its
rail network, cold storage facilities and container freight stations. It is
also developing three modern economic zones in Mumbai, Cochin and
Chennai.
Source: TOI
