Mormugao Port

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ABG Goa Port Ltd. (ABG) won the right to construct two new berths at Mormugao Port in Mumbai in June of 2000. Under the 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOO) contract, Mumbai-based promoter ABG Heavy Industries Ltd. was to invest approximately US$20.6 million for the berths to be used mainly for the handling of coal and coke that was to aid the supply to potential users such as the iron and steel, cement and power units located in the hinterland, comprising Goa and parts of northern Karnataka. Work on the ABG project was launched in June of 2002, yet financial closure was not reached until September of 2003, after ABG had already invested Rs 250 million in the project. The Housing and Urban Development Corp. (HUDCO) of India agreed to provide a Rs 500 million non-recourse loan to cover the remaining project cost in the 2003 agreement. During the period of 1999-2003, total coal and coke traffic to the port had increased at a rate of about 64 percent. After the re-development, studies indicated that the new ABG berths were likely to receive traffic of 4.83 million tons by 2006-7 and 5.61 million tons by 2011-2012. The license agreement for the new project provided ABG exclusive rights for handling the traffic up to 4 million tons. It was projected that the two new berths would be commissioned by the end of March 2004.