Four-company consortium for Galle Marina project
Sri Lanka’s ambitious ‘Galle Marina’ project aimed at making the Galle harbour a tourism port is likely to be undertaken by a consortium comprising four leading international companies headed by Mclarens and including an Indian firm, a Ports and Shipping Ministry official confirmed.
The Ministry had invited sealed applications from interested parties on May 24 to submit for proposals and receipt of award of Built Operate and Transfer (BOT) concession for the projects and the bids closed on August 21, Ministry Secretary L.P. Jayampathi told the Business Times.
He said that this consortium was the only bidder which responded to the request for proposals by the ministry and the Indian connection has nothing do with the Indian company which has provided technical assistance for Sri Lanka’s Emergency Ambulance Service. There were allegations that India’s GVK EMRI, the technical service and training facility provider of Sri Lanka’s ’1990 Suvasariya’ Emergency Ambulance Service, was favoured in the Marina deal.
Galle Port, is expected to be developed as a leisure facility over two phases. The first phase entails construction of a yacht marina for tourists drawn in by the region’s coral reefs, tropical rainforests and white sand beaches.
The first phase includes construction of berthing facilities for 22 15-metre-long yachts at a southern breakwater area, a service and repair facility, duty free shop, café and clubhouse, and tourism information centre.
The yacht berthing facilities will be extended to accommodate an additional 30 craft, as well as a yacht-lifting facility, car park and dry berthing facility.
The project’s second phase will see construction of a breakwater to protect the entire bay, as well as a hotel and resort facilities, a yacht marina and multi-purpose berth, potentially under a BOT concession
A consortium comprising four partners – Mclarens Shipping Ltd, India’s leading One Stop Yachting Company GVK – West Coast Marine Pvt Ltd and two other Swiss and French firms was the only bidder for the project at the time of opening the bids, informed sources revealed.
The estimated cost for Galle Marina’ project was in the region of Rs.12.89 billion and this consortium has been selected for the award.
While GVK – West Coast Marine Pvt Ltd and GVK EMRI are both subsidiaries of the same GVK Group, the award of the Marina project was an independent exercise and unconnected to the Indian ambulance service project.
State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Dr. Harsha de Silva, who was responsible for negotiating the Indian ambulance service, told the Business Times that attempts to link the Galle Marina project with the ambulance service provider was a despicable political ploy of opponents aimed at discrediting a very useful public service.