THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid concerns over Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed Vizhinjam seaport, the UDF Government is going ahead with the construction aspect of the multi-crore project. US firm Ecom has been appointed consultant for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract. The decision was taken at a board meeting of the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), the State Government firm overseeing the project, on Wednesday, Ports Minister K Babu said. Ecom will prepare the documents for floating the global tenders for the EPC contract, which will deal with the actual construction of the approximately Rs 6,000-crore international container transshipment terminal and multi-purpose seaport. The UDF Government is going ahead with the ‘Landlord Model’ conceived by the previous LDF government. In the first phase of the project, the Government plans to develop 42.2 hectares. The container terminal capacity in the first phase will be 820,000 TEUs and reclamation planned is to the tune of 3.3 million cubic metres. In the meantime, the deadline set for the 12 shortlisted companies for submitting financial proposals, for determining the private partner for the project, is likely to be extended again. Twice shifted, the latest deadline ends at 5 pm on Friday. It is understood that the companies have again sought an extension. It’s now certain that fresh deadlines will have to be set for the project. The consortium of banks led by SBT will start releasing funds only after the EIA is complete, which is expected to take over a year, the Ports Minister said. "We have to speed up land acquisition and finalise the alignment for the rail line. The previous budget had allotted only Rs 150 crore. That would prove insufficient. The Finance Department has agreed to pump in the sufficient money,’’ he said. Wednesday’s board meeting also decided to expand the VISL by creating nine more posts.
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