Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) on Saturday said a deal with Andhra Pradesh to build Bhavanapadu Port could not materialise as the state had requested for changes in the draft concession agreement.
APSEZ in January 2018 had won a contract to build a greenfield port in Andhra Pradesh.
Replying to a clarification sought by exchanges over media reports, the company said that it had only received a letter of intent to award (LOA) the project of building Bhavanapadu Port in Andhra Pradesh. But the deal could not materialise following state government's request for changes in the pact.
The company had complied with all the documentary requirements of LOA, APSEZ said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and added that subsequently, the government of Andhra Pradesh (GOAP) had requested for certain changes in the Draft Concession Agreement.
"We had communicated our inability to agree to the proposal of GOAP for the changes in the Draft Concession Agreement in August 2018 and June 2019, as the changes were materially hampering the viability of the project," it said.
In February 2020, APSEZ had requested Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board to sign the Concession Agreement without any changes in the Draft Concession Agreement, it added.
The company said it had made clear that in case if GOAP is not agreeable to the same the project should be closed "on the basis of mutual consent of the Parties".
In March this year, Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) said that the state government had decided to develop three ports in the state -- Bhavanapadu (Srikakulam district), Machilipatnam (Krishna) and Ramayapatnam (Prakasam), on its own.
The YSRCP government last year cancelled the Machilipatnam port project, awarded to Navayuga, as it did not make any headway in more than a decade.
The previous TDP government proposed to develop a major port at Ramayapatnam after the proposal to build a port at Dugarajapatnam in SPS Nellore district did not materialise.
Read:
With inputs from PTI