Thiruvananthapuram: The second phase of the construction of the Vizhinjam International Seaport will commence this year. The first phase is to be commissioned later in the year.
The second phase, fully funded by the Adani Group, is expected to be completed by 2028. During this four-year period, Kerala will receive private investment to the tune of Rs 9,600 crore. The state will receive Rs 3,000 crore this year alone, the highest investment by a single firm in a financial year.
According to the original agreement, the second phase of the construction would begin if 75 per cent of phase one becomes operational. However, with the second phase getting completed in advance in 2028, Adani Ports could have control over the seaport for 45 years instead of 40.
The environmental impact study report is currently under the Union government's consideration. The breakwater, now stretching to three kilometres, will be extended to four kilometres during the second phase, besides extending the 800-metre berth to two kilometres.
The extensions would help the port to handle 30 lakh containers a year, up from the 10 lakh containers it could handle during the first phase.
Though the agreement was to complete the construction in December 2019, the delay would not affect the government since it would be getting revenues only from 2034.
Two mother ships at a time
The Vizhinjam seaport could offer berths to a mother ship during the trial stage. Once the first phase is commissioned and the construction of the 800-metre berth is completed, two mother ships could be docked simultaneously.
A mother ship is a big vessel that ferries containers to different harbours. Containers from mother ships are transferred to feeder ships to be unloaded at the harbour.
Vizhinjam will be witnessing the major, and money-generating process, transshipment, after the trial run. Currently, mother ships could be docked only at the 16.5 metres-deep Mundra and Visakhapatnam ports in India. Vizhinjam, with a depth of 20 metres, will also become India's deepest trans-shipment port.
