Keeping in mind the rising incidents of oil spills around Mumbai, the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has now invited global bids to outsource the work of oil spill response facilities for a period of five years. The oil spill response facilities will help the Mumbai Port Trust and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) manage a spill of maximum volume of 700 tonnes.
“All ports are required to maintain Tier-I (up to 700 tonnes) oil spill response facilities. Accordingly, the MbPT and JNPT have to set up and manage facilities in Mumbai and JNPT harbour in coordination with oil companies operating at these ports,” reads the bid document. The oil companies include ONGC, BPCL, IOCL, CTTL, TPC and RIL.
The estimated cost of the bid is `33 crores and is likely to be awarded by the end of June or early July. Thereafter, it will take at least four months for the private company to set up the facility.
According to an official, as per the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan, pollution in the harbour needs to be handled by the ports, whereas offshore recovery operations are the Indian Coast Guard’s responsibility. Thus, MbPT and JNPT limits including ONGC’s facilities at Nhava and Uran will be taken care of by this tender.