INS Vikrant museum

[EagleOne]

Plans for conversion of the oldest Indian aircraft carrier IMS Vikrant (Indian Museum Ship) into a naval museum have got a boost after the state received two bids for the Rs500-crore project. Amby Valley and Akruti City are the two companies in the running for the project that is to be implemented on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis.

According to a senior state government official, this 14-year-old project will now be speeded up with two bidders qualifying for the same. "Amby Valley and Akruti City have emerged as front runners. We will be evaluating their proposal. Work on the project should start by the end of this year," said the official.

Since 1997, the government has been planning to convert the ship — which stands at the Oyster rock in Mumbai at present — into the biggest Indian defence museum, after the ship was decommissioned from the defence services. However, the project suffered a setback in 2010 when bids were called for the first time but no bidder showed interest.

Under the new terms, the bidders had to submit designs specifically for the museum to an Apex Coordination Committee (ACC) headed by the chief secretary as well as top naval officials. The bidders got technical points for their designs. Those bidders getting the stipulated points will be allowed to take part in the financial bidding.

The committee has shortlisted Akruti City and Amby Valley for a second round where they will be evaluated on the financial soundness of the project. According to sources, while one of the bidders has quoted the figure as Rs600 crore, the race between the two is going to be quite competitive.

"We will now evaluate the financial bids and will hopefully select a bidder by June," said a senior state government official. A proposal first came up in 1997 to convert the 700-foot-long INS Vikrant into a commercially viable maritime museum on a Private-Public-Partnership model.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_two-bidders-for-ims-vikrant-museum_1535147

 

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

INS Vikrant Has Completed Operational Life, Best to Dispose It: MoD to HC


Justifying its decision to scrap INS Vikrant, the Union Ministry of Defence today told the Bombay High Court that the ship has completed its operational life and it would be in the best interest of the naval services to dispose it instead of preserving it.

"INS Vikrant's hull is over 70 years old. It was decommissioned on completion of its operational life. It would be in the best interest of the naval services to dispose of such ships as expeditiously as possible. At a certain stage, ships can no longer be economically refurbished or repaired.

Maintenance and berthing of such ships requires heavy expenditure of public funds," the MoD said in an affidavit.

The affidavit was filed today in reply to a public interest litigation demanding that INS Vikrant, India's first aircraft carrier, to be preserved and converted into a maritime museum. The PIL sought a direction to the Union government to not auction off the ship as scrap.

The Union ministry in its affidavit further said that the Indian Navy has been actively involved in preserving and maintaining INS Vikrant until now. According to the affidavit, the Navy has till now spent Rs 22 crore for repairs and dry dockings of the ship.

"Considerable amount of expenditure has been incurred in maintaining the ship pending its conversion to a museum as the Maharashtra government had proposed to the defence ministry in 1998," said the affidavit filed by Admiral Shankar Mathur, chief staff officer of the Western Naval Command.

"Since then the state government has neither arranged an alternate berth for the ship nor did they accept the responsibility of safety of the ship. It has also been unable to convert the ship into a museum. The Navy has given their full and active support to the government but the same has not yielded any desired results," the affidavit said.

It added that the ship is now in a dangerous position and needs to be disposed of urgently.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha has posted the petition for hearing on January 18.

The petition has sought quashing of the tender issued by the ministry inviting bids for scrapping the ship. The auction is scheduled to be held on January 29.

INS Vikrant Has Completed Operational Life, Best to Dispose It: MoD to HC - The New Indian Express