Azerbaijan announces tender for new seaport construction contractor
BAKU. March 7 (Interfax) - The Transport Ministry of Azerbaijan has announced an open tender for a contractor for the building of the new Baku international commercial seaport in the town of Alyaty, a ministry statement says.
A contractor will be selected for construction and installation work on port premises and the provision of material supply services. The cost of taking part in the tender is 500 manat.
Companies involved in the tender have until May 18 to make an offer accompanied by bank guarantees in the amount of 1% of the proposal. The tender is to be held May 21.
As reported, the cost of building the port is estimated at 870 million manat ($1.1 billion per the current official exchange rate). The first construction phase will take 540 million manat, the second phase 150 million manat, and the third 180 million manat.
Port foundations were laid in November of 2010. The port complex project was worked up by the Dutch company Royal Haskoning.
The new port will start operating in 2014. The first phase of construction will take 3.6 years. This stage will see the port able to transship up to 10 million tonnes of cargo and 40,000 containers, the second up to 17 million tonnes of cargo and 150,000 containers, and the third 25 million tonnes of cargo and 1 million containers.
With the building of this new port, Azerbaijan is looking to become an international commercial center on the Caspian. The current positioning of the port on the edge of Baku hinders its development - particularly everyday bulk cargo terminal operations, since the movement of heavy equipment is only possible evenings, due to which loading and unloading of freight cars takes more time.
Project plans call for the construction over 400 hectares of all the infrastructure needed for normal port operations.
The official exchange rate for March 7: 0.7861 manat/$1.