Parties decide to stand unite for Vizhinjam Project

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 27: The ruling LDF and the opposition Congress are determined to fight together for the mega terminal project, Vizhinjam Deep Sea Trans-shipment Terminal, which if materialised, will transform the face of container business in the country as well as South Asia.

Strong resentment has brewed up in Kerala over the Centre's denial of security clearance to the project.

Leaders, cutting across party lines, endorsed that there should not be any delay in implementing the mega project, which was envisaged ten years ago.

An all-party delegation led by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Opposition Leader in the Kerala Assembly Oommen Chandy will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on August 31 to press for security clearance for the proposed Rs 4,200 crore deep water container trans-shipment hub.

The leaders, who attended the all-party meeting last week to decide on the future course of action after the Centre's categorical refusal, en masse were of the opinion that there was no going back on the state's longstanding demand for a world class port at Vizhinjam.

It was said the clearance was denied to the consortium that bid the global tender because of the presence of two Chinese companies -- the Kaidi Electric Company and China Harbour Engineering Company. These companies had tied up with Mumbai-based Zoom Developers and had won the bid.

Mr Achuthanandan and State Port Minister M Vijayakumar had said they only knew that the global tender for construction of the port had been denied and no specific reason regarding the refusal was stated in the Centre's communique to the state.

The Centre's one-line communique said, ''It has been decided not to give security clearance to the consortium of companies...to the Vizhinjam Project.''

Accusing national and international lobbies for trying to scuttle the project, Mr Vijayakumar said ''once Vizhinjam comes up, the major container trade will concentrate in this region and the people behind the lobbying are aware of this.'' About Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu's intervention in this regard, both the leaders alleged that the Union Minister's recent statements were not in the interest of the terminal and it raised several doubts.

While the Chief Minister alleged that there were several reports that some Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu were against the Vizhinjam Project as they were more eager to develop Kolachal port, which was near to Vizhinjam.

When pointed out that the delay in giving security clearance had stalled the entire project, Mr Baalu had said ''I am only a Cabinet Minister. I am not a member of the security sub-committee''.

Kerala Pradesh Congress President Ramesh Chennithala told UNI that his party was with the state government in developing the terminal.

Differing with the Chief Minister and Port Minister on Mr Baalu's intervention, he said the clearance had to be given from the Home Ministry and Mr Baalu's Ministry had nothing to do with it.

''Moreover, the Chinese companies if given the tender will be going to stay here for the next 35 years. The Chinese companies are also engaged in a port project in Pakistan and it should be noted that Vizhinjam is close to Colombo. It may be because of these reasons that the security clearance was refused'', he said.

Mr Chennithala also said if the Centre did not act accordingly, then the state government should think of alternatives for developing Vizhinjam in a public-private partnership enterprise on the lines of Kochi International Airport.

BJP State President P S Sreedharan Pillai said the party stood with the state government for the speedy implementation of the project. Accussing the Tamil Nadu lobby for scuttling the project, he said such moves would be fought together.

Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) leader K Karunakaran said there was no logic behind refusing clearance to the consortium consisting of a Chinese company in name of security.

''They want to develop Kolachal, but they fail to realise that once Vizhinjam is developed, Kolachal could also be developed and it could have a drastic impact on our shipping trade'', he said.

The Members of Parliament from Kerala, including Union Minister E Ahamed, Panniyan Ravindran, Varkala Radhakrishnan had staged a sit in front of Parliament to press for the immediate resolution of the Vizhinjam imbroglio.

Vizhinjam with all its advantages could save valuable foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore every year as currently containers coming to the country were being offloaded either at Dubai or Colombo and the consignments were taken in small tankers to India.

The advantage of Vizhinjam was it was free from any off-shore dangers and cyclonic disturbances. Also, the deep waters at the site enhanced its suitability as no dredging was required for deepening the port.

UNI