India hands over three river terminals to SAPEGIL

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) in its first-ever Public Private Partnership (PPP) has handed over three river terminals to Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (SAPEGIL) on a supply, operate and maintain (SOM) model.

The terminals - Garden Reach Terminal in Kolkata and, Gaighat and Kalughat Terminals in Patna - were handed over to the operator in the presence of Shipping Secretary of India Gopal Krishna, according to a statement issued in Kolkata, India on Monday.

SAPEGIL Director Ashok Chakbraborty officially took over the management of the river terminals from the IWAI. This is also the first time for any Bangladeshi company to be awarded management of terminals in a foreign country.

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

The SAPEGIL will have the right to collect user fees as per the tariff rates notified by IWAI for a period of 30 years.

Under the revenue sharing arrangement, SAPEGIL will retain 61.70 per cent and the rest will be given to the IWAI from the seventh year of operations.

SAPEGIL won this work through a global competitive tendering process.

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.