Minesweeper vessels likely to be made in Goa

Two weeks after he took over as the new defence minister, Manohar Parrikar on Saturday is set to chair his first defence acquisition council meeting where he is expected to announce yet another “Make in India” initiative to produce 8 minesweeper vessels in Goa.

A deal being discussed with South Korean company Kanganam for the last three years is likely to be scrapped in the process after the foreign vendor admitted hiring a middleman for the negotiation which is not allowed as per the defence procurement procedure, 2013.

Following the Korean company’s admission, the Attorney General advised the defence ministry to cancel the contract. The company, however, was not blacklisted as it argued that the middle man was appointed to overcome the language barrier.

The defence ministry now plans to make all the eight vessels in state-owned Goa Shipyard located in the home state of the defence minister.

The indigenous manufacturing is likely to be a time consuming affair as the entire case will have to start “de-novo,” said a source.