Cloud over Adani's role as Mamata makes new tender announcement

The Mamata Banerjee government appears to be distancing itself from the Adani group, announcing on Tuesday its decision to decouple the proposed Tajpur port project from the conglomerate that is battling a welter of allegations, from accounting shenanigans and stock price manipulation to over-invoicing of coal imports.

PTI, Kolkata, November 21, 2023: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said a tender will soon be launched for the development of Tajpur deep sea port - a project which the state government had previously stated would be developed by Adani group.

    

This has led to a cloud of uncertainty around the mega deep-sea port project.

The project initially was intended for Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) in October 2022 as they were the L1 bidder out of two final bids received. JSW Group was also a contender in that round of bidding.

Addressing the delegates at the ongoing Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), Banerjee said there are 12 "game-changing opportunities" in Bengal.

"First is the proposed deep-sea port at Tajpur, which is ready for tender. You can participate in the tender, and this will attract an investment of USD 3 billion or Rs 25,000 crore," she said.

The absence of the Adani Group from the BGBS has raised further questions about their role in the Tajpur port project.

"It could be a political compulsion," a source told PTI.

Sources said that Adani Port has "not backed" out and is waiting for the Letter of Award, the next document required to proceed on the ground post the letter of Intent to Award (LOIA) handed over in the past. The LoIA was handed over to Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports and SEZ, by Banerjee herself in October 2022.

Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi could not be reached despite repeated calls for clarification and reaction to the chief minister's address regarding the invitation to industrialists to participate in the tender for the project.

There has been no official comment so far to clear the air on deep-sea port at Tajpur.