Ship repair facility-dry dock project on track |27 May 2022

A view of the site where the ship repair facility-dry dock project will be based

The ship repair facility-dry dock project, approved by the cabinet of ministers on October 6, 2021 after cabinet was satisfied with the results from the initial proposals of the Ministry of Transport (dated back in July 2021), and first presented to the public on October 7, 2021, is currently on track.

The ship repair facility is meant to be in the form of a new modular floating dry dock (self-docking dry dock) built to the highest environmental standards and be able to accommodate vessels of up to 5000 tonnes. Furthermore, as mentioned before, it was concluded that the facility will not have a negative impact on the surrounding facilities nor major impact on the Perseverance community. Instead, the facility is meant to contribute both economically and socially to the country.

In line with the government of Seychelles’ vision to develop and modernise Port Victoria and to add value to the fishing, import and export industry, it is fundamental to introduce, with participation of the private sector, this ship repair-floating dry dock facility in view of the demand for such services.

A site visit with media interview was held on February 10, 2022 to further detail the proposal of the project and allow members of the media to present such information to members of the public, with the hopes of also attracting potential investors.

On Saturday February 12, 2022, an invitation request for pre-qualification was launched whereby interested applicants were invited to collect RFPQs documents from the Seychelles Ports Authority’s Procurement Department from Monday February 14 to Friday February 18, 2022. At the end of the week, 17 interested parties came forward either personally or through an agent/representative and the relevant documents was shared to them via soft copy or hard copy depending on their request.

Further to the above, the interested applicants had until 1500hrs on Wednesday March 23, 2022 to submit their interest for pre-qualifications. At this stage, only 2 out of the 17 applicants proceeded with solidifying their interest.

It is important to note that at this point in time no contract has been awarded, as there are still several assessments and processes to be undertaken prior to being able to identify the best candidate for the project.

In the meantime, the assigned committee members to the project, along with the other relevant ministries and agencies in place will continue to work together to make this project a reality.

The public is being informed that as and when there are new developments, such will be communicated accordingly.

Press release from the Ministry of Transport