The Adani Group and JSW Group have emerged as contenders for Bengal's first greenfield port in more than 50 years.The deadline for submitting technical and financial bids for the proposed port at Tajpur in East Midnapore, as well as an industrial zone associated with it, was Tuesday.
The parties' technical bids will be opened first as part of the two-step process. The government will then open and consider their price bids if they meet the technical requirements. Within the next two days, the secretaries committee, led by chief secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi, will decide on how to proceed with the process. With 13 ports and terminals on India's east and west coasts, Adani is now the country's largest private-sector port operator, accounting for 24% of the country's port capacity. Adani is interested in establishing a strategic foothold in Bengal, and the Mamata Banerjee-led government's pet project at Tajpur fits the bill. The company has recently entered the state's maritime sector by taking over the modernisation and mechanisation of a berth at Haldia port, which is close to Tajpur. In the two months leading up to the bid, Gautam Adani and his son Karan met with Chief Minister Banerjee twice. In comparison, JSW Group's port business, which operates India's largest private sector steel business, is still in its infancy. It has a port in Maharashtra, but it appears eager to expand its eastern footprint, particularly to support its expanding steel empire and fledgling cement business. In March 2021, the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, the project's implementing agency, requested expressions of interest (EoI) from potential bidders. Later in October, request for proposal (RFPs) and request for quotes (RFQs) were issued. The deadline for submitting bids has already been extended twice. A corporate observer noted that going ahead with low bids was not uncommon, citing the Modi government's privatisation of Air India, which was based on two bids. In November, about 10 parties attended a pre-bid meeting for Tajpur port. Image Source
