Four companies have so far shown interest in the first dredging project to use a public private partnership (PPP) model at Mormugao port in Goa, India.

This is the first time that dredging is being made as a revenue generating project in the country.

The PPP project invovles dredging of the Mormugao port's main channel to increase its depth from the existing 14.1 meters to 19 meters. The new channel will allow the port handle large cape-size vessels of over 150,000 dead weight tonnag (dwt), whereby the terminal operator can collect higher port charges. This additional charges will be the revenue of the future preferred bidder of the dredging PPP project.

The firms that have shown interest in the project are the following:

• Jindal Group
• Adani Group
• Mercator
• International Seaport Dredging

A pre-bid meeting was hold on 16 December. The project is expected to be awarded by March 2015.

The total project investment is estimated at Rs3 billion (US$47 million).

Other Indian port PPP projects that we have recently discussed in our intelligence platform are, among others:

• Vizhinjam port container terminal
• Development of Jawahar Dock (east) Berths as a Multi-Cargo Terminal at Chennai port
• Coal terminal at Cochin Port
• Single Point Mooring (SPM) and Allied Facilities for Kandla Port