Deadline to acquire land for Vallarpadam connectivity

Kochi, Apr 28 (UNI) Union Shipping Secretary A P V N Sarma today directed the Kerala Government to complete the land acquisition proceedings for the rail and road connectivity for the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal by May 31.

Noting that the delay in completing the connectivity projects would result in the entire project being held up, the secretary instructed that the acquisition be speeded up.

Mr Sarma gave this direction at a high-level meeting held here this morning to review the Vallarpadam and other maritime development projects at Cochin Port.

Earlier, the union shipping secretary also visited the Vallarpadam connectivity project sites, the Puthuvypeen LNG Terminal site and BPCL-KRL's offshore single point mooring.

Ernakulam District Collector M Beena told UNI after the meeting the district authorities will make ''all earnest efforts'' to complete the land acquisition by the given deadline of May 31.

She said only three per cent of the land required for the highway and 25 per cent of the land needed for the rail connectivity remained to be acquired.

Besides the District Collector, others who attended the meeting were Cochin Port Trust Chairman N Ramachandran, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. Project Director Keshav Chandran, National Highway Authority of India Project Director Srinivasulu and officials of the Dubai Ports World, which is to construct and operate the international container transshipment terminal.

The foundation stone for the terminal was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in February, 2005.

UNI ARC GM RL DS1505