Port Builders

April 09, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is having a pre-bid meeting Tuesday with private investors keen on building container terminals in Colombo’s new south port whose infrastructure work has attracted interest from 30 investor consortia, an official said. SLPA chairman Saliya Wickramasooriya said Monday the original date for opening bids for the infrastructure work on the new port was initially extended to April 24, but now has been further extended to May 8 in light of some recent amendments to the request for proposals.

Thirty parties have picked up documents, and the clarifications have run to over 200, he told LBO. Most capable local and global players are represented in both bids.

The new port project, known as the Colombo Port Expansion Project, is required to ensure Colombo remains competitive and retains its status as south Asia’s trans-shipment hub by catering to big, new deep-draft container ships now being deployed on the East-West trade route across the Indian Ocean.

The Asian Development Bank recently signed an agreement with the SLPA to lend 300 million dollars for the breakwater and dredging.

Under the deal, the agency wants the first two terminals in the new port, for which bidding is separate, to be bui