Business
There are lots of ploys in international tenders: Chandy
Thiruvananthapuram, April 29
While making it
clear that the proposed Vizhinjam port is a dream project, Kerala Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday underlined the need for caution
while finalising grant of work related to international tenders.
Observing
that "there are lots of ploys adopted by various vested interests when
an international tender is floated", Chandy said: "Once the bids are
opened, it's a common practice that some new company will come forward
showing that they are interested."
He was speaking to reporters here after the customary weekly cabinet meeting.
Chandy's
statement came in response to a question about media reports that a
Malaysian company has written to the Kerala government that they are
interested in taking up work at the Vizhinjam port, for which the last
date of tender was April 24 and there was just one lone bidder in Adani
Ports.
"See, there are ploys because in the case of Vizhinjam we
have just one bidder. This is the third time that we had invited tenders
for our dream Vizhinjam port project. One can understand if they had
applied in the first or second or third time.
"We have reached this far surmounting lot of hurdles and we will go ahead.
"The
government is committed to this port project and already we have
finished two rounds of meetings. Now there are two different committees
which will evaluate Adani's bid," the chief minister said.
The
proposed port, set to come up near the famed Kovalam beach, is expected
to be completed in three phases, with the first phase to be ready by
2019.
Once completed, ships with a capacity of even 18,000 TEU
(20-feet equivalent units) could dock here. The proposed port, as it is
located close to the busy international shipping route, is envisaged to
handle 4.1 million containers annually.
Meanwhile, in a related
development CPI-M politburo member and former state minister M.A. Baby,
on his facebook page, has expressed concern at the development made by
the Adani group after the Narendra Modi-led government assumed office at
the Centre and has warned that extra caution should be taken while
going ahead with the Adani bid.
In Kerala, over the years, it has
become a common practice to oppose any major project and the proposed
Smart City project at Kochi, which first surfaced in 2004, had to wait
10 years for work to commence. In June, the first phase of the 6.75 lakh
square feet building will be opened.