Goa: Option to break up Princess open

The government is keeping open the option of breaking up the River Princess. In a global tender to be floated next week, the government
is inviting salvage companies to bid to refloat and tow away the vessel, grounded off the Sinquerim shore for the past nine years, but is adding the rider that if the winning bidder fails to do so, the ship will be broken up and taken away.

"Three clauses have been added by the technical committee of the Goa Disaster Management Authority—the company must have a minimum 10 years experience; it should have successfully salvaged three vessels in the last 10 years and it must possess a 300 tonne floating crane, in case the ship has to be broken down in not more than 5pieces," sources said.

When contacted, member of the technical committee Annand Madgavkar said it was impossible to predict how many pieces the ship could be broken up into.