Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday that the Centre was committed to making the Vizhinjam International Deepwater Seaport a reality, Kerala’s apprehensions over the proposed Enayam port near Colachel in Tamil Nadu persist.
“The Prime Minister has said that the Enayam port will not affect the prospects of Vizhinjam and that the Centre will extend all help,” Mr. Vijayan told a press conference after meeting the Prime Minister in New Delhi.
“Our concerns are genuine. Enayam port, coming up 30 km away from Vizhinjam, will affect the two ports initially.
“Financial support from the Centre, which is providing Rs.800 crore to Vizhinjam as Viability Gap Funding, could also be affected. We tried to convince the Prime Minister. But, Mr. Modi is of the strong view that the port in Colachel will not affect Vizhinjam in any way,” Mr. Vijayan said.
The erstwhile Planning Board’s directive that no port was needed in a 100 km radius of another and the objections raised by the Shipping Ministry to Vizhinjam, citing its proximity to Kochi, was taken up with Mr. Modi, he said.
The Chief Minister said the Prime Minister had agreed to consider Kerala’s request to include the Vizhinjam seaport project in the Sagarmala project to provide rail connectivity to the port.
“The Centre is stern on the Colachel port and we have gone ahead in the case of Vizhinjam port,” he said.
