NEW DELHI, Aug 30: India has barred a Chinese company from participating in a project to build a container port in Mumbai, citing security concerns, a senior port official said on Wednesday.

Hong Kong-based Hutchinson Port Holdings, a division of Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd., was the only candidate out of 10 that was barred, said Mohana Chandran, secretary of Mumbai Port Trust, the government agency which oversees the bidding process.

Chandran told The Associated Press that ‘the security clearance for the management contractor, Hutchinson in this case, was denied’.

The decision was specific to Mumbai not all of India, he said.

“This decision by the government was taken purely for this project and I can’t comment on any policy decision,” he said.

A Hutchinson official, though, denied the company had been barred.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Times of India newspaper reported the Indian government decided to bar all Chinese companies from investing in or managing Indian ports due to security concerns.

If so, that would block Chinese involvement in the construction of 13 planned ports across India, valued at some US$13 billion, the Times said.

Officials at India’s shipping ministry were either unavailable or did not return calls.

Nine other companies received security clearance to bid for the Mumbai project, including Japan’s Mitsui OSK, Dubai Ports and Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp., said a port official speaking on condition of anonymity because the bids have yet to be opened.

The official said there was an Indian naval base near the port and this is not the first time that Hutchinson Port Holdings has been denied permission for that reason.

However, Hutchinson Port Holdings spokesman Anthony Tam denied they had been barred.—AP