Kerala government, which rejected the offer of the sole bidder ABG Cements Ltd for the cement terminal project at Azhikkal port, may expedite the implementation of the project through some other ways, media reports indicate.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the state government may not go for fresh bidding again and instead identify competitive bidders using the ‘Swiss challenge approach’ after making public the bid of ABG and inviting bids from others.
Going for a fresh bid might take more than six months and the state government wants to avoid this time consuming process. Therefore, the state government plans to finalize the concessionaire for the project in the next couple of months, reports indicate.
It may be recalled that the sole bid of ABG Cements was rejected for the second time by the state government as the latter was not satisfied with the revenue share offered by the former.
It is learnt that ABG Cements agreed to pay a monthly rent of Rs 6,000 per acre apart from the pilotage charges and port dues as per the Kerala state port department’s schedules. Moreover, the firm also offered to pay the berth charges even though the berth would be built by it, reports indicate.
According to official sources, the reason behind the decision not to accept the tender of the sole bidder, ABG Group, was the fear of any allegations in future.