: Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has asked the UDF government to come clean on the decision to award the Vizhinjam seaport project to the Adani group.
In a press note issued here on Sunday, he said the government was yet to reveal the terms of the contract with the Adani group.
‘No transparency’
The project, which could have been implemented on the landlord model protecting the interests of the State, had been virtually handed over to the bidders in a deal that lacked transparency.
The Adani group, known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would have to invest only Rs. 2,454 crore in the project, less than the amount that the LDF government had decided to mobilise from a consortium of banks. There was nothing to indicate that the government had tried to negotiate the deal with the bidders and ensure that the State’s interests were protected.
The reports of Ernst & Young, advisers on the bid, and the Hemant Group, the legal advisers, had not been made public.
Mr. Achuthanandan questioned the decision of the government to award the contract for port operations to the Adani group for a period of 60 years when most other ports in the country had tied up with private operators for 30 years. Also, the government was yet to disclose whether the Vizhinjam port would revert to the State on completion of the 60 years. At one per cent, the Vizhinjam port would offer the lowest profit share to a State Government, and that too only after 15 years.
