Vizhinjam Container Terminal has much more to cross

Wednesday June 27 2007 09:05 IST
T’PURAM: The proposed Vizhinjam International Container Terminal will not have a ‘clone’ within 150 km on either side of it on the Kerala coastline, the State Government has decided.

The government has also decided to bear the cost for developing external infrastructure for the project such as railway and road, a responsibility which it had earlier vested with the private partner.In fact, the government reinstated two conditions on Tuesday which it had done away with while announcing that it was going in for global tenders for the project a second time.As in the last bid, the State Government will also bear the contingent liability capped at Rs 67.50 crore, if changes occur in the basic design, subsequent to drilling and collection of data by the successful bidder.

And, the company that successfully bids and operates the port for 30 years, the original concession period, will also have the First Right of Refusal to match the winning bid if the government decided to bid out the port operation after the concession period expires.These are the changes that the government approved on Tuesday in the Request for Proposal (RFP) for global tender to invite the private partner for the multi-crore project.

Initially, a State Government grant was proposed to meet the expenses for developing the external infrastructure for the project, amounting to Rs 80 crore. This was modified later. The public-private partnership that emerges after a successful bid would have to meet the cost, the government had decided.This was one point to which the companies, taking part in an investors’ meet for the project on April 17, objected.

The decision to ban private developers from constructing a similar container transshipment terminal within 150 km in the state also arose from a suggestion from companies at the investors’ meet.
But, not allowing a similar port nearby is not such a big issue. What with the Vallarpadom Container Transshipment Terminal coming up in Kochi, there will be little scope for another in-between, anyway. Besides, it applies only to the region north of Vizhinjam, because in the south, the Tamil Nadu border is close by, and the condition does not apply beyond Kerala borders.

As many as 43 companies, big and small, including giants such as the Russian Rosoboron had taken part in the investor meet, the first one by the State Government for a single project, in April.The State Government had decided on a second round of global bid after the Centre denied clearance to a Chinese-led consortium that had originally grabbed the project.