The Indian Navy has flagged the need of a warship that can transport at least 3,000 troops with battle tanks in any exigency in the Indian Ocean Region. However, the government has not been able to award the contract to any of the two sparring bidders, as doing so could unleash a fresh political debate.
One of India's most crucial naval asset projects meant for the domestic industry is stuck in a corporate feud. Despite being flagged as an urgent requirement for influencing maritime operations in the Indian Ocean, India's Ministry of Defense has not been able to finalize the $3 billion contract for four landing ships.
“No contract for construction of four Landing Platform Docks (LPD) has been awarded by Ministry of Defence,” Nirmala Sitharaman, India's defense minister, responded to a question put up by a parliamentarian on Monday.
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The question was whether the construction of four landing platform docks for the Indian Navy had been held up due to some dispute.
In her response, the minister did not elaborate on the details of why the contract had not been awarded to one of the two bidders — L&T and Reliance Naval Engineering Ltd. (RNEL).
The commercial bid for the project — announced in 2011 — was set to open last year, but was deferred after the government decided to award the construction of all the…
