Kochi: The meeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has called on Thursday to find solutions to the problems nagging the Vallarpadam international container transshipment terminal and the Cochin port will be productive only if the state government did its part of the job, said sources familiar with the developments at Cochin port.
“The Centre has made it clear that it will not invest more in Cochin port unless the state makes the LNG terminal function to a reasonable capacity,” said the sources.
“There are a number of issues the state government itself has to address before seeking further central assistance. Given the stance, it is unlikely that the Centre heeds the demand for subsidy for dredging.”
The Central government, however, is sympathetic to the de-mand of the port trust to waive the penal interest on the loans it has availed from it, the sources said.
Exporters have repeatedly pointed that ICTT has not been able to take full advantage of the exemption in cabotage law given to ICTT because of the stand taken by government authorities, including customs in some other ports.
They point out that trans-shipment car-go at Cochin port is just about 10 per cent of the total cargo the terminal can handle, indicating that the terminal has failed in its very purpose. “The government should seek to address these issues,” they say.
“The cabotage exemption is set to end in September this year and the state government should immediately bri-ng the matter to the Centre’s notice and dem-and that it be extended for a considerable period.”
They also pointed out that the state does little to promote Vallarpadam even for the movement of cargo generating in Kerala.
“Cashew expo-rters and importers in Kollam use Tuticorin port instead of Cochin port. Exporters from Coimbatore, Pollachi and Tirupur, who are desirious of using the Cochin port, have little incentive to do so,” they pointed out.
The government is yet to attend to the complaints of harassment by the transport authorities alleging excess cargo, forcing exporters to prefer Tuti-corin instead of Kochi, he said.
