Speaking at the Vizhinjam Seaport Expert Summit on Tuesday, November 29, Kerala Ports Minister Ahammed Devarkovil said that the first ship will berth at the deepwater multipurpose port in September 2023 and will be an Onam gift for the people of the state. While speaking at an expert panel meeting organised by Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL), he also said it was a project of Kerala state government and not an ‘Adani port’.
A similar argument, of the state taking the ownership of the port project, was made by veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Thomas Isaac in an article written by him in the party mouthpiece Deshabhimani on Tuesday, November 29. The former Finance Minister, while criticising the agitation, said that the anti-port protests are being intensified at a time when the project is nearing completion and ships are about to dock within months.
Isaac said a good part of the project has been completed and a sum of Rs 6,000 crore has been spent on it and therefore it is impossible to stop the construction of the port as demanded by protesters. The CPI(M) leader said that many of the demands raised by the protesters are just and the rehabilitation of those affected lacks pace but said the demand to stop the project is not acceptable.
Ports Minister Ahammed Devarkovil, earlier in March this year, had stated in the Assembly that a total of Rs 4,006 crore has been spent on the project so far. This included Rs 1,553 crore spent by the state government and Rs 2,453 crore spent by Adani Ports.
The project concessionaire Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited, commenced the construction work on the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport being developed on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model, on December 5, 2015. Adani group chief Gautam Adani had then claimed that the first ship will berth here on September 1, 2018, in a “record time” of less than 1,000 days.
Port authorities and state ministers have claimed that 70% of the work on the project has been completed. However, an RTI response by the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) to the president of Voice Of Indian Catholic Evolution (VOICE) Francis J Netto says a different story. According to the response dated October 14, 2022, as on September 22 this year, only 18% of work on the container yard and 33% (approximately) of the breakwater (structure to protect harbour from high tides) have been completed.
Other completed works include 33% of dredging (removal of sand from underwater) and reclamation (creating new land elevating low-lying places) and 34% work of installation of precast construction components. However, 100% of piling work has been carried out, the response said. Going by the RTI reply, it can be seen that the work is nowhere near completion.
Isaac in his article also said that the Kerala government has made plans for a Capital City Region Development Program worth around Rs 60,000 foreseeing the Vizhinjam port development and the Church leadership should show the wisdom to drop their antagonism towards the project.