THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Shipping Ministry too has given its clearance for the Vizhinjam Deepwater Container Transhipment Terminal proposed to be set up at Vizhinjam, 16 km from here.
The clearance is for executing the Rs.5,348-crore project with the involvement of a consortium of companies led by Lanco Kondappally, Hyderabad. Lanco Infrastructure Limited and a Malaysian company Pembinaan Redzai Sdn. are the other members of the consortium, selected by the State government through global bidding.
Announcing the receipt of the clearance at a press conference here on Wednesday, Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar said the government and the consortium would immediately begin the formalities connected with the formation of a special purpose vehicle for carrying out this mega project that could change the economic profile of the southern part of the State.
The consortium will have 76 per cent stake in the transhipment terminal and the State government the remaining 24 per cent.
The project will be executed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement, with the consortium handling its affairs for 30 years.
After this period, the transhipment terminal will become the State government’s property.
The project had earlier received the clearances of the External Affairs Ministry, Defence Ministry and the Home Ministry. All these clearances related to security matters.
“The decks are clear now. We have overcome all hurdles,” Mr. Vijayakumar said, describing the pains the government had taken to get the proposal through after the Central Ministries had rejected it when a consortium having a Chinese company as one of its members was selected to execute it. The rejection happened in 2006.
Mr. Vijayakumar said Vizhinjam, located very close to the international shipping route, would be the biggest container transhipment terminal in the country.
The sea at this location had natural depth sufficient for the largest container ships in the world.The project would provide at least 3,000 job opportunities directly and nearly 1.5 lakh jobs in allied activities, he said.
Source: The Hindu
