A Turkish contractor has submitted the lowest bid for a contract to rehabilitate four disused berths at Karachi port, with a price almost 20 per cent below the original cost estimate by the client, Karachi Port Trust (KPT). The bidders are:

Sezai Turkes-Feyzi Akkaya (ST-FA) of Turkey - Rs 1,469 million ($48.2 million). This includes $15 million to be paid in foreign currency

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company of South Korea - Rs 1,512 million ($49.6 million), including a foreign exchange component of $19.5 million

Hanbo Steel, also of South Korea - Rs 1,959 million ($64.3 million), including a foreign exchange component of $24 million.

The work will involve rebuilding berths five to eight at Karachi's east wharf, which have been disused since 1988. An 805-metre-long quay wall and quay apron are to be built to replace the existing quay wall, which has partially collapsed. The terminal will be multi-purpose and may be fitted with additional container-moving equipment at a later stage. The UK's Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick is the consultant in association with the local Zaheeruddin Consultants (MEED 21:1:94).

The tender evaluation will take up to six months, according to World Bank procedures. KPT plans to start construction, which will take two years, in the summer.

KPT has secured preliminary approval by the World Bank for a $30 million loan to cover the foreign exchange requirement. KPT originally estimated the total project cost at Rs 1,800 million ($59.1 million), of which half would be payable in foreign currency.