Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Port: Raghavan blames State

Thiruvananthapuram: The decision by the Left Democratic Front government to invite fresh bids for an international container transhipment terminal project at Vizhinjam has led to an inordinate delay and heavy cost overrun, the former Minister for Ports M.V. Raghavan said here on Saturday.

Delivering the inaugural address at a seminar organised by the Capital Development Council, he said the government could have avoided the delay by accepting the proposal to reconstitute the Indo- Chinese consortium that had won the original bid during the term of the previous United Democratic Front government.

“The Union Cabinet denied clearance for the bid, citing security reasons over the involvement of Chinese companies. The State government should have accepted the subsequent proposal to rework the consortium without the Chinese firms. The decision to go in for fresh bids was driven by political compulsions and false prestige. The same compulsions were behind the decision to shunt out key officials involved in the project,” he said.

A consortium of the Mumbai-based Zoom Developers and two Chinese firms, Kaidi Electric Company and China Harbour Engineering Company, had bagged the Rs. 4,200-crore bid. The issue was referred to the Centre because of the concerns raised by various Ministries and intelligence agencies over the increasing participation of foreign companies in domestic infrastructure projects.

Mr. Raghavan said the project cost had gone up by Rs. 1,500 crore by the time the new bids were received.

Delivering the keynote address, Jayakumar, Chief Executive Officer of the Pondicherry Port and Special Economic Zone Company, said: “With its proximity to the international shipping lane and the capacity to handle large ships, Vizhinjam has the potential to divert a large share of the container traffic from other ports in the region.” He said the projected volume of container traffic justified the existence of a hub at Vizhinjam.

K. Mohankumar, council chairman, George Mercier, MLA, and the former Ports Director Sivarajavijayan spoke.

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