Vizhinjam International Seaport

Template:Infobox port The Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport (U/C), also known as the Vizhinjam Port and the Port of Trivandrum, is a port that as of 2021 is under construction on the Arabian Sea coast at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is the Deepest Port in India having natural draft depth of 24m. The total project expenditure is pegged at ₹6595 crores for the first phase and will be developed in three phases and is proposed to follow the landlord port model with the intention of catering for passenger, container and other cargo shipping.

Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) is a special purpose government company (fully owned by Government of Kerala) that would act as an implementing agency for the development of a greenfield port - Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport- at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala.The port will include a cargo port and a passenger port. the port will have an in-port rapid transit metro system that will connect passengers within the passenger terminal of the port. The port will be connected through the New bypass that starts from Thiruvananthapuram and will pass through Thiruvallam and Kovalam

History

The Vizhinjam Port project has a history of 100 years even Travancore Diwan Dr. Ramaswami Ayyar dreamed about this project. The Vizhinjam Port has originally conceived about 25 years ago. The initial project model was suggested as a Public Private Partnership (PPP)- Private Services model. Two rounds of bidding and tenders called under the PPP model failed because of the inherent nonviability of the project's economic rationale. The first round was granted to a Chinese company that failed to get security clearance from the Centre; the second round was first awarded to Lanco Group and was then challenged in the Kerala High Court by Zoom Developers, which led to the eventual withdrawal of Lanco Group. The Kerala cabinet on 10 June 2015 decided to award the multi-thousand-crore international port and deep-water container terminal to Adani Ports and SEZ, the sole bidder.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is currently the transaction advisor to VISL. The IFC was appointed in November 2009 as the lead advisor to the port. The IFC undertook in 2009 - 2010 a series of studies and reports that recommended the State to undertake the project under the Landlord Model, under which the State would invest over US$1 billion to build the port, rather than the PPP model, under which the Private Partner would bear the cost of the port. L&T-RAMBOLL had undertaken the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study of the container port.

After the landlord model was accepted by the State Government, a bidding round concluded. A consortium led by Welspun was the sole eligible company for the port operator role. The Welspun Group requested a grant of about 480 Crores (approximately US$90 million) as a grant in terms of Net Present Value over 16 years. In negotiations between the State Government and the Welspun Group, Welspun agreed to reduce the grant to 400 Crores. Kerala State Government rejected this offer because the terms of the PPP saw no economic rationale for the State Government.

An Expert Apprisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment recommended clearance for the project on 3 December 2013. Tenders for construction of a breakwater, fish landing center, and port operator began the next day.

The Adani group emerged as the sole bidder for the project and the project was awarded to Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd. in 2015. At the time of awarding the project, it was expected to completed in a record 1000 days.

Environmental Issues

One of the main concerns around the project is its impact on the coastline as the Thiruvananthapuram District is considered high erosion through a study conducted by Ministry of Earth Sciences. Particularly, the breakwater presents an issue in displacing erosion away from its natural patterns. As the breakwater pushes water away from the area around the port, strong currents will be pushed to the area on either side- areas where around 60,000 fishers rely on for their earnings. Besides impacts on fishing, the erosion of coastline represents potential risk to coast structural integrity and multiple natural systems.

Since Wadge Bank is one of the primary fishing grounds in Southern India, the port construction will negatively impact the breeding ground of over 200 varieties of fish and the largest coral reef of the Indian Ocean. Over 50,000 fishermen have access to great knowledge of the local area and sea, the continuation of construction will deprive families of their livelihood, and consequently, the government will be deprived of ecological insight.

Legal Disputes

The state of Kerala and Gujarat based Adani group has been embroiled in a legal dispute over the delay in completion of the project. The project was delayed after the private partner - Adani repeatedly kept on invoking the force majeure clause to explain the delay in completing the project. Currently, the parties have agreed to enter into an arbitration to resolve the dispute.

External links

• Trivandrum Investment and Business Zone - TRIBIZ
• Vizhinjam Port Official Web Site.