The two consortiums that had responded to the international tenders invited for building and operating the container transhipment port at Vizhinjam have been given a clean chit by the Union Ministry of Defence.
An official press release on Tuesday said Defence Minister A.K. Antony had written to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Minister for Ports K. Babu about the clearance his Ministry had given to the consortium led by Welspun Infratech Limited India and another led by and Mudraport and Special Economic Zone Limited, whose technical bids were found acceptable by the Vizhinjam International Seaports Limited (VISL), the company formed by the State government to facilitate the building of the project.
The Union Home Ministry and External Affairs Ministry too have to give their clearances for entrusting the project to either of these consortiums. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had earlier said that only after obtaining all these security-related clearances the VISL would open their financial bids.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project is going on. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest had recently given the terms of reference for the EIA. The study will look at the impact the project will have on the marine biology of the region, whether the project would alter the sea erosion dynamics of the coast and whether it would in any way affect the fishing community living in the coastal hamlets close to Vizhinjam.
The EIA will take one year for completion since the data pertaining to the marine ecosystem and sea erosion dynamics during all seasons of the year have to be gathered for it. The Ports Minister said the State government was confident of completing all other formalities relating to the project in time to enable the actual commencement of the port construction work as soon as the environmental clearance was also obtained.
