DP World, JM Baxi Group to build box terminal at Vizag.

A positive sign has emerged after the signing of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) aimed at boosting investments between India and the United Arab Emirates.

A consortium, comprising DP World and Mumbai-based JM Baxi Group, has been selected to build and operate a new container terminal at Visakhapatnam.

The consortium, which already operates the Visakhapatnam Container Terminal, was the lone bidder for the project.

The new terminal is to be built at the site of the existing terminal to accommodate larger ships, said officials. They added that the project is on a build-operate-transfer basis for a period of 30 years. Financial details could not be ascertained. DP World, the world's third-largest port operator, said in July last year that it would invest about $200 million (around Rs. 1,243 crore) in building a new container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) near Mumbai.

The terminal is to be built next to the Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal, which DP World operates, and is expected to help ease congestion at JNPT.


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