Kochi: Amid reports of uncertainty over the Vizhinjam deep sea port project, the state government is going ahead with the development of Ponnani as a full-fledged cargo port. Chief minister Oommen Chandy is expected to lay the foundation stone for the first phase of the project which entails an investment of Rs 763 crore in August.
“We plan to complete the first phase in three years,” R. Rangarajan, director of Malabar Ports Pvt Ltd, told DC. The Chennai-based company won the bid to develop the project in the Swiss challenge route in 2011. The government signed an MoU for the development of the all-weather port the next year.
The first phase will be developed on about 250 acre. Of this, the government has leased out 29.3 acre on a 33-year lease, and the company would recla-im about 200 acre.
“We are constructing a two km bre-akwater and readying a 12 metre draft at the berth,” Mr Rangarajan said. “The dredged soil will be sufficient for filling the land.” It is envisaged that the port when complete would require about 400 acre, which will be fully reclaimed from the sea.
The port will have two terminals of 450 meters each and is expected to handle cargo of 6-7 million tonne a year, coming from central Kerala region and the Coimbatore-Tirupur Rs 763 crore Ponnani port under PPPbelt in Tamil Nadu. (The Cochin port last year handled 21 million tonne).
“With a draft of 12 metres, we expect fairly large-sized ships that carry up to 60,000 tonne DWT to call at Ponnani,” Mr Rangarajan said. Containarised cargo will be taken to a transshipment terminal. “It could be Singapopre or Dubai,” he said.
The port is expe-cted to attract cargo that now goes to Tuticorin by-passing the Cochin port. MPPL and the state government formed Ponnani Ports Ltd, a special purpose vehicle, for the execution of the project.
‘The SPV will operate the project for 30 years during which it will pay the government a royalty of 2.75 per cent of the total revenue in the first 15 years and 4.5 per cent in the next 15 years,” Captain Hari A. Warrier, deputy director, ports department, said.
