Sri Lanka may cancel the process to seek a private partner to build a container terminal at Colombo port, which attracted the interest of top global names, a media report said.
Sri Lanka’s The Sunday Times newspaper, citing an unidentified source said a ministerial committee has pushed for the cancellation of the process to select a partner to complete the East Terminal of Colombo port and public private partership (PPP).
Suddenly new conditions had been brought by a ministerial committee to disqualify all bidders, the report said.
Among those responded included top global shipping firms including MSC and Maersk, CMA CGM and top terminal operators tying up with local firms including John Keells, Aitken Spence and Hayleys.
The process to seek a partner to build and operate the container terminal is now in the pre-qualification stage. Qualified candidates would be asked to submit financial bids in a second stage.
Indian firms also tied up with the consortium, under an original condition where Sri Lanka sought Indian participation.
If a bidder was selected transparently before the end of the year, Sri Lanka’s investment environment would have been boosted sending a strong signal to the world, analysts say.
Source: Economynext (LF)
Source: Economynext