PTI quoted the Comptroller and Auditor General of India as saying that the state lost INR 159.96 crore because of lacunae in resources and revenue sharing arrangement of port projects in PPP mode.
The CAG in its report on general and social sector for the year 2011-12 said that “The government suffered a loss of INR 159.96 crore due to deficiencies in Concession Agreements with different port developers. The projects were largely awarded through MoU route instead of competitive bidding.”
The report tabled in the State Assembly on Saturday said that the CAG’s performance audit noticed several deficiencies in policy formulation, implementation, institutional arrangements, design and enforcement of CA and revenue model in port projects in the state.
The report said that “Though four out of the 5 port projects with project cost of each exceeding INR 500 crore were taken up and CA were executed, approval of High Level Clearance Authority was not obtained, that too when private promoters were selected in 3 cases through MoU route.”
The report, however, added that out of 5 port projects, in only one case private promoters was selected on competitive bidding route. The port policy permits adoption of International Competitive bidding route or MoU route for selection of private developers.
The report futher added that “In case of Gopalpur port, a developer with no experience in infrastructure sector was selected and revenue sharing was accepted at 0% to 7.5% which was below the reserve percentage of 5% to 8%.”
