Courtesy Bussiness Standard

The Adani group looks almost certain to win the greenfield Bhavanapadu port project in Andhra Pradesh. The other two companies short-listed for bidding have backed out.

The Andhra Pradesh department of infrastructure and investment received technical and financial bids from only the Adanis, an official said. The deadline for submission of bids was October 3.

“We are awaiting the Union home ministry’s clearance before opening the lone bid,” Ajai Jain, principal secretary, department of infrastructure and investment, said on Friday. The Bhavanapadu port in Srikakulam district is close to Odisha and Chhattisgarh and is expected to play a key role in the Adani group’s coal and logistics business. The port developer will also receive 2,500 acres of land for development of logistics infrastructure and port-based industries. The initial phase of the project will include five berths. The Andhra Pradesh government had last December short-listed the Adani group and the two state-based port operators, Gangavaram Port and Navayuga of the CVR group, to take part in the bidding. The Adanis own the Mundra port in Gujarat and run a port-based logistics business while Gangavaram Port and the CVR Group operate the Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam ports in Andhra Pradesh.

The reasons for the pulling out by the Andhra Pradesh-based port operators are not known. Efforts to reach the two companies yielded no result.

The CVR group will develop the greenfield Machilipatnam port near Andhra Pradesh’s new capital Amaravati. The Adani group had shown interest in developing a port-cum industrial park in Srikakulam district nine years ago. The company revived its efforts when bidding was announced by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for the Bhavanapadu port. The Andhra Pradesh government is planning to develop a chain of ports and industrial corridors along its 975 km coastline.