The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Vizhinjam will be one of Asia's biggest harbours, Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Vizhinjam will be one of Asia's biggest harbours, Minister

Special Correspondent

Cost of the project estimated at Rs.4,360 crores

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vizhinjam international container transhipment terminal, once completed, will be one of the biggest harbours in Asia, Minister for Ports and Harbour Engineering M.V. Raghavan told the Assembly in reply to questions last week.

In written replies to P.K.K. Bava, C. Mammootty, Neelalohithadasan Nadar, B. Vijayakumar, Ludy Louis, Roshy Augustine, Nalakath Soopy, K.N.A. Khader and others, he said the harbour would have 5,027-metre-long breakwaters; four berths for mother-ships, six berths for feeder vessels; two general cargo berths; 34 Panamax and Post-Panamax cranes; and 400 acres of land from the sea for developing port facilities. The economic internal rate of return from the harbour would work out to 51 per cent.

The Minister said two tender proposals had been received for the project. It had been decided to give the letter of intent to a consortium headed by Kaidi Electric Power Company of China. The total estimated cost of the project is Rs.4,360 crores and it was expected to spend Rs.1,850 in the first phase. The work could be started as and when clearance was received for the project.

Mr. Raghavan noted that though the container traffic in the country had registered a 15 per cent growth rate during the last decade, the lack of harbours with adequate container transhipment facilities had pushed up the country's import and expenditure costs. At present, about 70 per cent of the country's container traffic was being handled by foreign ports such as Colombo, Dubai and Singapore. This resulted in an annual loss of Rs.1,000 crores and the amount was likely to go up in future.

A detailed techno-commercial feasibility study and containership economic study were done before inviting "Request for Proposal" for implementing the project, the Minister said. Vizhinjam harbour is naturally deep and lies very close to international shipping channels. The harbour would be able to meet the lion's share of the transhipment needs of the country.

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