Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has released master plan and detailed project report pertaining to the Vizhinjam container terminal and international port.
The State Government expects that the project will get environmental clearance within the next five months, he said.
ENVIRONMENTAL NOD
The environmental impact assessment report is now before the State Pollution Control Board, which has announced the conduct of a public hearing on June 29.
Within one month from that date, the State will approach the Ministry of Environment and Forests for environmental clearance.
“We have no doubt about securing environmental clearance. A very exhaustive study covering all seasons of the year, as per terms of reference given, has been done,” the Chief Minister said.
A decision on this could be forthcoming from 105 days of submission of application, as per norm.
Ports Minister K. Babu said the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), would wait till the environmental clearance before floating tenders for a port operator.
‘LANDLORD’ MODEL
There was no change in the plan to have the project executed according to the “landlord model.”
The project would attract more investor attention once the hurdle of environmental clearance was tackled. The State was continuing its efforts to get the project exemption from the Cabotage rules.
A single entity, consortium led by Welspun Infratech, alone had qualified in the bid for port operator when the project was put up for tender the last time.
It demanded a grant of Rs 479.54 crore over a period of 16 years to set up the port superstructure on which they would have to spend nearly Rs1,000 crore.
This was not acceptable to the government since it was thought it would attract better bids once investor confidence went up after environmental clearance and Cabotage exemption were secured.
The creation of the basic infrastructure of the port, which is the responsibility of the VISL, is estimated to cost Rs 3,040 crore, out of the total project cost (first stage) of Rs 4,010 crore.