Pipavav, Mazagon Dock JV ushers in new era in warship construction

Mumbai: The Indian Navy will be breathing a sigh of relief with private shipbuilder Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering Company (PDOL) and state-owned Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) coming together on Monday to form the country's first public-private partnership venture to build warships and submarines.

The 50:50 Mazagon Dock Pipavav Ltd joint venture will start off by implementing part of the existing orders of MDL, which amount to Rs1,00,000 crore ($21.69 billion) and also bid for future defence contracts in India.

''This partnership is formed primarily to fast-forward the process of warships and submarine contracts held currently by the MDL,'' PDOL chairman Nikhil P Gandhi said.

''The PDOL board unanimously approved setting up of the joint venture company with Mazagon Dock to be named as Mazagon Dock Pipavav Ltd,'' Gandhi said. Apart from carrying out work for the navy, the JV will also look at export orders from ''friendly countries'', Gandhi said.

The Pipavav yards have the capacity to build a dozen submarines and warships at a given time due to their modular configuration.

Modalities of the joint venture, such as equity participation by partners, the nature of the work to be undertaken, the quantum of work to be allotted to Pipavav, etc, were not disclosed as officials said work on many issues was still in progress.