MOEF to decide on Vallarpadam highway

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Kochi, Jun 8 (UNI) The empowered committee on infrastructure projects, of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), will decide on granting clearance for a four-lane highway to connect the Vallarpadam international container trans-shipment terminal with the Nedumbasserry International Airport here.

Addressing a press conference here today, Cochin Port Trust (CPT) chairman N Ramachandran said that a sub-committee of the empowered committee had recently concluded a visit to Kerala to study the environmental concerns raised regarding the highway project.

''Apart from discussions with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and CPT officials, the team visited the proposed highway site and studied for itself the water bodies and the terrain of the land. The empowered committee will meet at a convenient date now to take a final decision on the matter,'' he added.

The foundation stone for the Vallarpadam project, the first container trans-shipment terminal in India, was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February last year.

On the issue of the CPT leasing out land to private traders to build storage tanks to stock liquid cargo, Mr Ramachandran said that this was a legitimate activity of the port and the CPT would like to encourage it.

On the recent collapse of the storage tank of a particular petrochemical company, Mr Ramachandran said that the tank had collapsed while being pressure-tested with water. While this company, B R Petrochemical Ltd., had been asked to suspend its operations as certain shortcomings were noticed in its construction, there was no bar on other licensed companies to store liquid cargo.

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