News: Satyagiri Bids Highest For Water Transport Project

(FE 19/12/2003) Mumbai - The Mumbai-based Satyagiri Shipping has emerged as the highest bidder for the passenger water transport services project along West coast of Mumbai. The Satyagiri Shipping has quoted lease rent of Rs 1,000 crore against its nearest rival Four Seasons Marine and Air Services Ltd’s Rs 400 crore.

The bids were opened on Friday by the state-run Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), which is the nodal agency appointed by the state government for this project. The project will be completed on the BOT basis. Bidders with Rs 63 crore networth were entitled to submit their bids to MSRDC.

MSRDC vice chairman and managing director Anilkumar Lakhina told FE that the project envisages development of ports at Borivli, Juhu, Varsova, Bandra and Nariman Point and also operate ferry services by using hovercrafts and catamarans. The project entails an investment of over Rs 600 crore and expects to ferry around 1 lakh passengers daily in Greater Mumbai.

Mr Lakhina said that the Satyagiri Shipping is expected to achieve financial closure within a year. The company expects to achieve 50 per cent progress in next two years in the proposed project.

Initially, all the five bidders — Triton, SKS, Maldar, Satyagiri Shipping and Four Seasons — had expressed their desire for the project. However, Triton and SKS did not submit bids, while Maldar was disqualified by MSRDC.

The Satyagiri Shipping chairman and managing director Nitin Joshi said that his company has already formed consortium for the development of the proposed project. The consortium comprises of — KJMC Financial Services ltd, Gammon India, ABS Hovercraft of UK, Damen Shipyards of Netherlands, Hoverline Services of Sweden, Videocon International Ltd and Tulip Hospitality Services.

He added that the consortium is likely to adopt 1:3 debt equity ratio for the implementation of the project.