THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ports Minister V. Surendran Pillai said here on Wednesday that Vizhinjam International Seaports Ltd. (VISL) had passed the first stage of the procedures for winning environmental clearance for building a deepwater container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam, near here.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Surendran Pillai said the committee concerned of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, at its meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, had given in principle clearance for the port project and fixed the terms of reference for the environmental impact study. In June 2010, the State government had submitted all necessary papers for this stage of the environmental clearance. The committee had sought more details and these too were provided to it promptly.

He said Ports Secretary Sanjeev Kaushik had represented the State government before the committee, clarifying all questions that were raised.

The Minister said other matters were being moved simultaneously to ensure that the work on the project commenced as early as possible. The first stage of the deepwater container terminal was expected to require an investment of around Rs.2,500 crore. A committee led by the Chief Secretary was going through the 14 ‘request for qualification' bids for taking up the project. The committee would publish the list of companies/ consortiums whose credentials were satisfactory for the subsequent stages of the selection process. The State would immediately put before the Centre the papers for getting security clearance for the shortlisted companies/ consortiums. He expressed confidence that it would be possible to select the company/ consortium for executing the project and get the work started by March.