Thiruvananthapuram: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has come down heavily on the state government pointing out that the Vizhinjam International Seaport project is against the best interests of the state and that only the Adani Group is set to benefit from the agreement.
This is one of the findings of the draft report prepared by the Principal Account General (Audit) Amar Patel. Vizhijam Seaport Limited CEO Dr Jayakumar said that the report was a draft prepared in July. “The draft was sent to us for clarification. The final report would come after considering our clarifications also. We could provide proper clarifications for all the queries made by the CAG. Hence, the preliminary draft report did not have much significance,” Dr Jayakumar said.
Sources said that the final report, which would also take note of the clarification of the state government, is unlikely to come up before the present session of the Assembly. In all likelihood, the report would be submitted to the Assembly only by December, sources said.
Meanwhile, Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran said that he had not seen the report but the government was committed to go ahead with the proposed project.
The Kerala government, which will incur 67 percent of the total project expenditure of Rs 7,525 crore, will be drawing a profit of only Rs 13,948 crore. The Adani Group which shares 33 percent of the project expenditure will reap a profit of Rs 1,44,653 crore, the report pointed out.
In other words, while the Kerala Government will spend Rs 5071 crore, Adani will spend only Rs 2,454 crore for the project.
The report alleged that the state government had not been able to draw up a PPP policy clearly defining the objectives and due processes. As a result a major project languished at the drawing board stage leading to diminished financial viability. The technical and financial estimates prepared by external consultants were not scrutinised with due diligence resulting in the inflation of cost estimates. The interest of the Kerala government was not protected adequately while drawing up the concession agreement. Irregularities and lack of economy were noticed in the expenditure incurred for the project, the report said.
