Headlines
Kerala's Vizhinjam port project suffers setback
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 20 Kerala's dream Vizhinjam port project received a serious setback Friday when none of the three bidders in the fray turned up.
As
per the earlier announced plan, Friday was to be the last day of the
auction and the state government had planned to award the contract to
the winner on the same day.
"It's strange that none have turned
up and we will look into what has happened. We have now decided to
extend the tender by a month," said State Ports Minister K. Babu to
reporters here.
The Rs.4,000 crore first phase of the project
created history of sorts early this month, when it became the first port
project in the country to get a Rs.800 crore approval for viability gap
funding from the Centre.
Three companies, including Essar, Adani
Ports and a consortium of SREI and Spanish firm OHL had passed the
initial muster for becoming eligible to take part in the auction.
Twenty
percent of the cost of the project would be borne by the state
government and with the Centre also chipping in, the rest would have to
be brought in by the firm that won the bid.
All the required
clearances for this mega project, which has been hanging in the balance
for close to two decades, were obtained.
The proposed port is to
come up near the famed Kovalam beach and is expected to be completed in
three phases, with the first phase to be ready in 2019.
Once completed, ships with a capacity of even 18,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) could dock here.
The Vizhinjam port site has a natural depth of 24 metres, one of the deepest in the world and hence requires no dredging.
The
proposed port, as it is located close to the busy international
shipping route, is envisaged to handle 4.1 million containers annually.