Summit to invest $8m in India to improve three river terminals in Kolkata, Patna

This is the first time for any Bangladeshi company to be awarded management of terminals contract in a foreign country

 
Summit Group is set to invest $8 million on operating and managing three river terminals in India, as the fund will be spent to import cargo handling equipments by the conglomerate.

Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (SAPEGIL), a subsidiary of Support Port Alliance, was handed over the operation and management of its three terminals on Monday, says a statement of Summit Group.

The terminals are in Kolkata and Patna, the statement added.

This is the first time for any Bangladeshi company to be awarded management of terminals contract in a foreign country.

“On November 5, under the Public Private Partnership (PPP), the first ever of its kind, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) handed over the operation and management of its three terminals-- Garden Reach Terminal in Kolkata, Gaighat and Kalughat Terminals in Patna, to Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (SAPEGIL) on a supply, operate and maintain (SOM) model,” said a statement of Summit Group, issued on Monday.

Director of SAPEGIL Ashok Chakbraborty officially took over the management of the river terminals from IWAI. 

Shipping secretary Gopal Krishna, IWAI chairman Pravir Pandey, Kolkata Port Trust chairman Vineet Kumar attended the programme.

“We feel very privileged to have taken over the management of three river terminals in Kolkata and Patna both as first Bangladeshi company as well as the first PPP with IWAI,” Chairman of Summit Group Muhammed Aziz Khan said. 

According to statement of Press Information Bureau, government of India, the project is Expected to tap the huge potential of Nepal bound containerised cargo on National Waterways -1.

According to a media report in India, in the first phase the company will invest $3 million and an additional five million will be done to import cargo handling equipment in the second phase. 

"We will invest $3 million in the first phase and an additional five million will be done to import cargo handling equipment in the second phase," said an official of Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (India) Pvt Ltd, reports an Indian media. 

“Under the transactional structure worked out by International Finance Corporation (IFC), the operator will undertake the operations and maintenance services at both Kolkata and Patna clusters and invest in cargo handling equipment, container handling equipment and warehousing,” IWAI Chairman Shri Pravir Pandey said. 

The operator will also provide labour, professionals, supervisory, and managerial personnel for performance of operations and maintenance services, he said. 

SAPEL was awarded the contract in August, 2017 under a revenue sharing arrangement of 61.70% to itself and 38.30 % to IWAI through a global tendering process for this work for Garden Reach Terminal in Kolkata and Gaighat and Kalughat Terminal in Patna. 

As per the conditions of the contract, the operator will have the right to collect user fees from the users as per the tariff rates notified by IWAI and the contract will be valid for a period of 30 years.

Summit Alliance Port East Gateway is a subsidiary of Summit Alliance Port Limited (SAPL) which is a publicly listed company in Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges.

Share of Summit Alliance Port Limited was traded at Tk25 each on Monday.

The company was enlisted with the country’s exchanges in 2008. 

According to Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) data, paid up capital of the company is Tk223.2 crore, while the authorized capital is Tk300 crore.   

Who are the Bangladeshi Business investing abroad

According to Bangladesh Bank data, eight Bangladeshi companies, excluding Summit, have so far allowed to invest abroad. 

These include Square Pharmaceuticals with $5 million for business expansion in US and 25 million in Kenya, BSRM with $4.67 million to build factory in Kenya, DBL Group with $3 million to build an RMG factory in Ethiopia and MJL with $547,000 in a joint venture in Myanmar.

ACI was permitted to invest $447,000 in the USA, while Incepta was permitted to invest £10,000 in the UK and €2,500 in Estonia.
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com

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