Vizhinjam will be the only port in India designed to accommodate the biggest ship that exists in the world. Photo: OnmanoramaThe countdown starts for a mother ship to dock at Vizhinjam a thousand days later. Kerala is no longer dreaming.
Vizhinjam will be the only port in India designed to accommodate the biggest ship that exists in the world.
The rocket launch centre at Thumba that boosted space research in India was built on the land of the fishermen.
So is the Vizhinjam port, reminding us of the extent the common man is willing to sacrifice for ushering in development.
Destination Vizhinjam
The Vizhinjam International Port project was going nowhere when the United Democratic Front came to power in May 2011. The government strived hard to turn the paper boat that was Vizhinjam to a vessel that can carry the state's dreams.
The project cost for Vizhinjam port is Rs 5,552 crore. Of this, Rs 4,089 crore is the PPP component and Rs 1,463 crore the worth of the work funded by the government.
Like in all previous agreements, land, rail, water and electricity required for the project will be ensured by the government at its expense. This is expected to cost Rs 1,973 crore.
Transparency, the trademark
The tender and agreement process was completed as per the Model Concession Agreement published as a guideline by the Planning Commission. The deadline for submitting tenders was extended several times. The Chief Minister and the Ports Minister held talks with the three companies which expressed interested even into the last stage.
However, Adani Ports was the only company to submit a tender. The government has explained this in an all-party meeting and published it on the official website. All information related to the tender has been publicised. Even the bid letter signed by Adani Ports has been uploaded on the website.
In the current model, the money the state government is supposed to spend has come down significantly from the model on which tenders were invited four years ago.
The previous agreement would have leased land to a private company for 30 years. According to the new agreement, the private partner only gets the licence. The rights on the land are vested on the government which can claim it back.
The government will start receiving a share of the port's revenue after the 15th anniversary. This share will start at 1 percent and increase by 1 percent until it reaches 40 percent. More over, the government will receive 10 per cent of revenue from non-ports operations from the seventh year.
No room for complaint
The project will not cause grief to anyone in the area. A rehabilitation package of Rs 475 crore has been announced. This will be implemented in five years. More funds will be earmarked if necessary. Fair prices were given to the owners of the land acquired. The 67 families who lost their houses were resettled. A committee led by the Revenue Divisional Officer and an appeal committee led by the District Collector have been formed to study the problems faced by those rendered homeless and jobless by the project and suggest compensation.
A modern fishing harbour will be built along the first phase of port development considering that the area is an active fishing centre.
A drinking water project has already been implemented for the people in the area. As much as 93 per cent of the required land has bee acquired. The remaining 23 acres will soon be acquired.
The Vizhinjam project was envisaged during the UDF government led by K Karunakaran in 1991. The then Ports Minister M.V. Raghavan steered the project. The succeeding A.K. Antony government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kumar Energy Corporation for the project in 1995 but the following Left Democratic Government could not pursue the project.
In 2004, guidelines were formed to implement the project with private participation.
A tender under the PPP model was invited in 2005 but a Chinese consortium that participated in the tender was not given the clearance by the central government because of security concerns. Attempts by the following LDF government were also not fruitful.
Though the opposition tried to stall the project by alleging corruption worth Rs 6,000 crore in a project that cost Rs 5,552 crore, the government did not budge even an inch. The move to boycott such a large project that comes to Kerala after decades is unfortunate.
The Left finds itself dwarfed before the fishermen who gave away their homes for the project.
The government has complete trust in Adani Ports who excel in the manufacturing and manning of ports. We thank the company for taking up the Vizhinjam project. The project is required to be completed in four years, or 1,461 days. But Adani Ports has declared that it will complete the works in 1,000 days.
The countdown starts.
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