INS Sindhuratna docked at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai

We are well equipped to take up the job, says CMD

Hindustan Shipyard Limited, which was the sole bidder for undertaking medium repair of Russian-made Sindhughosh-class submarine, has reiterated its claim to undertake the project at the earliest at a cost of ₹1,400 crore.

The normal refit of INS Sindhuvir, which commenced in August 2017, was right on track.

HSL management hopes that as per the decision of Defence Acquisition Committee in 2014, the government would award the contract for medium refit of two Russian-made submarines to them.

The Ministry of Defence has already decided to repair two among four submarines in Russia leaving the remaining two to undergo medium refit in India with assistance from Russian experts.“To encourage indigenisation, the third submarine INS Sindhuratna, which has been kept idle in Mumbai for over six months, should be handed over to us for medium refit,” HSL Chairman and Managing Director LV Sarat Babu said.

Lone Bidder

HSL was the lone bidder for the third submarine. The fourth submarine is still under operation and it will be due for refit a year later. He said they had excellent facilities and able manpower to undertake refit of submarines.

On the ship repair front, Rear Admiral Sarat Babu said they had undertaken repair of 10 vessels which included completion of major refits of INS Kesari and INS Magar.

The yard has achieved accolades from the Navy, the company’s prime customer. As on date, the yard has a balance order book value for ship construction amounting to nearly ₹132 crore.

Besides bagging the contract for two diving support vessels and four 50-tonne bollard pull tugs for the Navy, it has signed contract for construction of four pontoons at a cost of ₹10 crore for Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam.