The Empowered Institution under the Ministry of Finance on Friday recommended the Vizhinjam seaport project for the Union government’s viability gap funding, according to information reaching here from New Delhi.
Talking to The Hindu over phone from New Delhi, where the members of the Empowered Institution met on Friday, A.S. Suresh Babu, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), said the decision would brighten the prospects of this project. He said this would be the first port project in the country to receive clearance for viability gap funding.
The Empowered Institution has as its members the Additional Secretary (Economic Affairs), Additional Secretary (Expenditure) and a Joint Secretary each from the Planning Commission and the line Ministry (in this case the Shipping Ministry), besides a Joint Secretary from the Department of Economic Affairs as its secretary.
It can sanction up to Rs.100 crore as viability gap funding for infrastructure projects conceived under the public-private-partnership mode. It can also consider projects of bigger scale and place them before an Empowered Committee consisting of secretary-level officials, which can sanction, at its level, up to Rs.200 crore as viability gap funding.
For sanctioning larger amounts, the Empowered Committee needs to get the approval of the Union Finance Minister. “The project is moving in the right direction,” Minister for Ports K. Babu said about Friday’s development.
Tender proceedings to select a private partner for this Rs.6,647-crore project (latest estimate for the first stage of the seaport) are progressing.
