Infrastructures Kerala Ltd (INKEL), a public-private enterprise formed by the Kerala State Government, may take up the task of taking to fruition the much-delayed proposal for the development of Beypore port here.
The proposal, which has been hanging fire for more than a decade, had gone through yet another tendering process in February this year, but failed to get any response from prospective investors. It was in this context that INKEL has come into the scene.
INKEL has already done a study of the development potential of the port and submitted a report to the Government, according to port department officials.
The Government will look into it and may entrust INKEL to take up the steps to implement the project. The detailed feasibility report of the project had been done by Consulting Engineers Pvt Ltd.
Ppp route
The port is envisaged to be developed through public-private partnership (PPP) and INKEL will identify a private partner to execute the project, the original outlay of which was pegged at Rs 163 crore.
The Government had earlier signed an agreement with the Lakshadweep Development Council (LDC) allowing the former to construct a separate berth to handle the cargo and passenger traffic to and from the island and the current plan is to construct two new berths, apart from the one by LDC.
Ponnani project
Meanwhile, the Law Department is studying the proposal by the Chennai-based Malabar Ports Ltd for the development of Ponnani port, which also features in the list of seven minor ports in the State, identified by the Government for development.
The projected outlay for the Ponnani project is Rs 763 crore.
The State Cabinet had earlier cleared the proposal by Malabar Ports, which won the tender through Swiss Challenge Method by outbidding High Valley Infra Projects Private Ltd.
The proposal assures higher revenue returns to the Government than that quoted by High Valley Infra Projects.
The project will be implemented on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis for a concession period of 30 years. The construction agreement would be signed with Malabar Ports after getting the nod from the Law Department, the department officials said.