The financial difficulties and other problems facing the Cochin Port Trust are under study and appropriate steps would be taken to help the port, said Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways, and Shipping, here on Friday. He was addressing a press conference at the Cochin Shipyard.
The Minister said that he was still studying the problems facing the port and, once in Delhi, he would meet the stakeholders to evolve solutions. The concession agreement between the Cochin Port Trust and the Dubai Ports World for operation of the International Container Transshipment Terminal would also be looked into, he said. However, he underlined the need for making the operations of the port commercially viable and did not make any financial commitment.
Mr. Gadkari gave a call to the State Chief Minister and all political parties to take the initiative to complete the LNG pipeline through the State as he pointed out that the investment made in the LNG terminal was not giving returns.
ADVERTISEMENT
He also highlighted that the ICTT was working at 30 per cent of its capacity now. On the Vizhinjam container terminal project, the Minister said that problems related to its implementation would be discussed.
Use of port land
Mr. Gadkari said that a decision on port land use would be taken soon to enable the port authority here to utilise the land in such a way that Kerala tourism too would benefit from the new programmes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, K.V. Thomas, MP, submitted an appeal to Mr. Gadkari for the Shipping Ministry’s green signal for the proposed Cochin Outer Harbour project. Mr. Thomas said that the Kochi port had an iconic status in Kerala and that the port had good projects but needed time to stabilise.