Port Bids II

Oct 11, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government Thursday opened four financial bids by private sector consortia to build a new container terminal in the new Colombo south port project, officials said. No official word of the bids was available but a consortium including PSA Corp and an independent bid by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), two of the world's biggest port operators, were said to be the front-runners.

Officials warned that it was too early to say which would win as the bids for the terminal contract was more complicated than that of the one for the breakwater contract.

Officials said evaluation of the financial bids to build and operate the container terminal would have to include detailed calculations of the net profit for the port.

Port officials have said earlier that cash flow generation would be a key factor in evaluating the bids as the profit from the first terminal in the new South Port of Colombo is required to fund other port sector projects in the island.

One of the terminal contract bids opened was that of the consortium including conglomerate John Keells Holdings in which South Asia Gateway Terminals which runs Colombo port's privatized container terminal, and