THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With India’s Defense and External Affairs ministries giving the green signal, major obstacles in the path of Kerala’s most ambitious port project have been removed.
The state government expressed confidence that the Vizhinjam International Container Trans-shipment Terminal will go on stream within three years, making the state the major hub for container traffic from the subcontinent.
The state Cabinet last week decided to acquire 1,083 hectares of land immediately for the allied infrastructure for the port some 16 km from here. This is the first major port in India to be developed by a state government.
India’s first federally controlled international container transshipment terminal being built in Kochi by the Dubai Port World is to be commissioned next year. The two ports together are expected to change the economic landscape of the southernmost state.
“This land is basically for providing road and rail linkage to the hinterland and the allied infrastructure. The port will be built on the land to be reclaimed from the sea,” Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said.
The port received Defense Ministry’s clearance on Tuesday while the External Affairs Ministry gave approval the next day. The build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the Rs80bn has been awarded to a consortium led by Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondappalli Power Limited on a 33-year concession.
“This is going to be the biggest port in India and a major port-of-call for the global container transshipment business. We expect to dedicate the port to the nation in three years,” Achuthanandan told reporters after the weekly Cabinet meeting Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry cleared the project on conditions that the naval vessels can berth at the port and that a naval representative should be on the board of the Vizhinjam port.
The earlier proposal was shot down by the federal government on security reasons because of the presence of a Chinese company with interests in Pakistan.
“This would be one of Asia’s largest deepwater seaports and container transshipment terminals. It needs only minimum dredging because of the natural draft of 16 meters at berth,” Achuthanandan said. “It is also just ten nautical miles to the east-west shipping axis linking Europe and the Gulf to the Far East”.
Vizhinjam hopes to attract container traffic from the ports of Singapore, Colombo and Salalah. If the controversial Sethusamudram Canal project takes off, ships will not have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka.
The terminal will be able to berth post-Panamax to Malacca-max class vessels, some of the biggest manmade leviathans. The project is expected to create 5,000 direct and 150,000 indirect jobs.
Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar said the state aims to invest Rs120bn for developing a network of ports in the state within the next three years to support the mother port. “All these projects will help Kerala regain its past maritime glory,” he said.
The state government plans to set up a maritime board to streamline these projects. The ports to be developed under the project include Azheekal, Kottayam and Beypore. The federal government has included Azheekkal port in its National Maritime Development Program (NMDP).
The port will be developed to the maximum possible capacity in phases and on modular basis at an investment of Rs20bn. The Beypore, which is the second biggest in the state after Cochin port, is being developed as an all-weather port through public-private partnership.
With a coastline of around 590km, Kerala boasts of many ports including Neendakara, Alappuzha and Kozhikode (intermediate ports) and Valiyathura, Thankasserry, Kayamkulam, Manakkodam, Munambam, Ponnani, Beypore, Kannur, Vadakara, Thalasserry, Manjeswaram, Neeleswaram, Azhikkal and Kasaragode (minor ports).
