Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday hailed India's first international container transhipment terminal (ICTT) as a triumph of public-private partnership (PPP) and described it as an enduring symbol of the close ties “we wish to build with our extended neighbours in West Asia, including the United Arab Emirates.” Dr. Singh was speaking after inaugurating the ICTT on Vallarpadam Island, close to the Kochi Port.
Dr. Singh said Kerala, with its huge diaspora of skilled and enterprising workers, engineers, doctors and other professionals, was ideally suited to become the gateway for investments from countries such as the UAE.
The absence of a global hub port and the lack of transhipment facilities had put Indian trade at a disadvantage as about 60 per cent of the country's export-import containers were transhipped through ports such as Singapore and Colombo.
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Transhipment of India-bound or outbound containers from these foreign ports involved an additional expense of $300 a container and an extra seven to 10 days in transit time, Dr. Singh said.
However, with the commissioning of the first phase of the Vallarpadam project, “our exporters can access mainline container vessels calling at one of the most well located ports of India,” he added.
The Rs.3,200-crore project is a near 50-50 partnership between Dubai Ports World (DP World) and the Government of India, investing through the Cochin Port Trust. DP World has a 30-year BOT agreement with the Port Trust for the facility being commissioned in three phases. The first has a capacity to handle one million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit) of cargo. The design capacity in the final phase is 5.5 million TEUs.
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Union Minister for Shipping G. K. Vasan said in his welcome address that the government of India had approved 22 PPP projects at an estimated investment of Rs.9,000 crore. Twenty-two more PPP projects were under bidding and would be awarded soon, he said.
“A great dream”
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said this was a great day for Kerala and the country as a whole. He thanked the Prime Minister for the Centre's role in realising a great dream.
He thanked the families that gave up their land and homes for the project and also called for measures to ensure that the displaced people were suitably rewarded through consideration for employment in the new facility.
President, Department of Civil Aviation of the UAE, Sheik Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum; Minister for Foreign Trade of the UAE Sheik Lubna Bin Khalid Al Qasimi; Governor of Kerala R.S. Gavai; Union Minister of Defence A.K. Antony; Union Minister for Civil Aviation Vayalar Ravi; Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj C.P. Joshi; Union Ministers of State K.V. Thomas, Mullappally Ramachandran and K.C. Venugopal; Union Shipping Secretary K.K. Mohandas and Chairman of the Cochin Port Trust N. Ramachandran, were among those present.