Fresh tender for Bengal’s Tajpur port as Adani Group ‘evaluates' next move

However, official confirmation from JSW was not immediately available.Earlier this year, the West Bengal cabinet decided to issue a fresh tender for the project, in an apparent signal of ending its association with the Adani Group for development of the port.Speculations around the project started doing the rounds when Banerjee, during the Bengal Global Business Summit in November 2023, had announced that the proposed deep-sea port was ready for tender and invited industrialists to participate.The reopened tender is expected to attract significant interest from various infrastructure players.

The Adani Group will "evaluate" the West Bengal government's move to formally relaunch the bidding process for the mega Tajpur deep-sea port by issuing a fresh tender, effectively resetting the 2022 winning bid by the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ).

The Mamata Banerjee government has issued a fresh Request for Proposal (RFP) for the greenfield port in East Medinipur district, with the Adani Group deciding on a cautious approach on its next move. Asked whether the conglomerate would object to the new process or participate in the fresh tender, an Adani Group official said it will ''evaluate the development and take an appropriate call''. The fresh RFP, issued by the West Bengal State Maritime Board, invites bids from experienced players for the development of the port on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.

The project comes with a 99-year concession period and 1,000 acres of land, with the state pledging support for crucial rail and road linkages. According to the RFP document, a pre-bid meeting is scheduled for January 14, 2026, with bid submissions to be accepted between February 1 and February 27.

The fresh proposal effectively nullifies the previous tender process in which APSEZ had emerged as the 'L1' bidder. A provisional Letter of Intent to Award (LOIA) was issued to APSEZ in October 2022 after it outbid competitors, including JSW Infrastructure.

JSW is likely to participate in the rebidding, as Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal had announced additional investments for the state. JSW Infrastructure had also recently won a bid for a Rs 32-crore contract to build and operate a container terminal at Netaji Subhas Dock (NSD) in the Kolkata Port. However, official confirmation from JSW was not immediately available.

Earlier this year, the West Bengal cabinet decided to issue a fresh tender for the project, in an apparent signal of ending its association with the Adani Group for development of the port.

Speculations around the project started doing the rounds when Banerjee, during the Bengal Global Business Summit in November 2023, had announced that the proposed deep-sea port was ''ready for tender'' and invited industrialists to participate.

The reopened tender is expected to attract significant interest from various infrastructure players. In the original round, JSW Infrastructure had lost out to APSEZ by a narrow margin, and has since been focusing on expanding its port and airport assets.

Global giants like DP World and the Port of Singapore Authority had also previously expressed interest in the project, which was first accorded in-principle approval by the state cabinet in 2016, and initially planned to be developed in collaboration with the Kolkata Port. It remains a flagship infrastructure initiative for West Bengal, aimed at boosting maritime trade and creating substantial employment in the region.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)