On Sunday, the Israel Defense website announced the government’s decision to privatize the port of Haifa to Sde Gadot Masovim Khemikalim Group and Indian company ADANI PORTS for NIS 4.1 billion.
The Israeli government hopes that the privatization of the port will improve competition in Israeli seaports.
The privatization process for the Port of Haifa began in 2020 with the approval of the Ministerial Privatization Committee, and prior to that, the Port of Eilat was privatized in 2013.
The deal provides that the new owners will acquire 100 percent of the company’s shares, which were distributed as follows: the Indian company ADANI PORTS will acquire 70 percent of the shares, and the Israeli Gadot will receive 30 percent.
The Indian company is the largest in India in the field of seaports and is expanding.
From now on, the port of Haifa, owned by an Indian company, will compete with another new port in Haifa, operated by a Chinese port company from Shanghai.
Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised the sale of the Haifa port, saying “this is great news for the country. Port privatization will increase competition in ports and thus lower the cost of living in the country.”
In October 2020, an Israeli shipyard said it had submitted a joint bid with DP World in the process of privatizing the Israeli port of Haifa.
She added: “This collaboration will help increase the competitiveness of ports, reduce costs and create advanced infrastructure for international trade and logistics,” noting that this will make the Port of Haifa a key hub in the Middle East.
This is reported Haaretz, Jewish newspaper Asia’s richest man, billionaire Gautam Adani, has bought the Israeli port of Haifa, showing that he is a close friend of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Source: Israeli media