MEGAPROJECT: Vizhinjam Container Transshipment Terminal | Under Development

[Jomy]

Originally Posted by Rajesh SM

Jomy, Not only India's mother port, but India's Shangai is in the making. Today's manorama reported that many industrial, logistical and trade powerhouses had already bought land in and around Vizhinjam zone. Gok also got evidences that some automobile giants are also looking at vizhinjam.

Wow !! Gr8 News !!
This will be the start of Industrial Revolution In Trivandrum!



.

[Rajesh SM]

Originally Posted by Jomy

Wow !! Gr8 News !!
This will be the start of Industrial Revolution In Trivandrum!

.

Yesterday inidavision reported that 'Vizhinjam' will change 'Trivandrum' into a global economic and trade hub on the lines of Dubai and Singapore.

[Rajesh SM]

Today Asianets 6:30 pm news bulletin's headline is regarding the sky rocketing land value in Vizhinjam.

According to the report,land value in vizhinjam is rocketing second by second. Real estate giants are now offering value that is even unthinkable to the local people. Many natioanal and International giants are wandering in vizhinjam to get as much land as they can:dj:

[Rajesh SM]

People tv also joined the race, Today they broadcasted and exclusive 30 minute interview with MVK 6:30 pm IST.

It will be broadcasted tomorrow 10:30 am as well

[Rajesh SM]

Gok today decided to acquire 2700 acres of land for Vizhinjam.

About 95% of the land is for industrial development particularly for hitech industries. This land will be scattered across five near by panchayats. And this land is lonesome and hence doesnot require displacements and easy to acquire. Actually GoK decided to acquire the land based on the report by KITCO which conducted studies for industrial development and SEZs in vizhinjam. KITCO also reported GOK to declare the vizhinjam and its near by panchayats as Industial and Trade zone. This was disclosed by MVK today evening.

Are u guys happy?

[nishanthnair]

Editorial from Mathrubhumi

Read it here

[nishanthnair]

Kudos to M.Vijaya Kumar,M.VR,A.K Antony and last not the least Janapaksham

I think everybody forgot the role played by Janapaksham in marketing the project.They really played a huge role in promoting Vizhinjam.

A big cheers to them also

Read the article in Manorama here

[chandrurajan]

Originally Posted by nishanthnair

Kudos to M.Vijaya Kumar,M.VR,A.K Antony and last not the least Janapaksham

I think everybody forgot the role played by Janapaksham in marketing the project.They really played a huge role in promoting Vizhinjam.

A big cheers to them also

Read the article in Manorama here

Absolutely spot on. We need to give true credits to JANAPAKSHAM and NTV for taking Vizhinjam to the entire keralites.

[Rajesh SM]

Kerala to acquire 1,000 hectares for port
Published: Thursday, 7 August, 2008, 01:29 AM Doha Time

By Ashraf Padanna

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala cabinet yesterday approved a decision to acquire over 1,000 hectares of land at Vizhinjam to build allied infrastructure for the proposed international container transshipment terminal.
“This land is basically for providing road and rail linkage, warehousing facilities, parking areas and other facilities at the port which is being built on the land reclaimed from the sea,” Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said.
The port received clearance from the federal defence ministry on Tuesday and from the external affairs ministry yesterday.
The build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract for the Rs80bn port has been awarded to a consortium led by Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondappalli Power Limited on a 33-year concession.
“This is going to be the biggest port in India and a major port of call for the global container transshipment business. We expect the port to be operational by 2011,” Achuthanandan said.

“This would be one of Asia’s largest deepwater seaports and container transshipment terminals. It needs minimum dredging because of the natural draft of 16m at berth,” Achuthanandan said. “It is also just ten nautical miles to the east-west shipping axis linking Europe and the Gulf to the Far East.”
Vizhinjam hopes to attract container traffic from major ports in the region like Singapore, Colombo and Salalah. Once the controversial Sethusamudram canal project takes off, ships would not have to circumnavigate Sri Lanka.
The project is expected to create 5,000 direct and 150,000 indirect jobs.
At least 50% of the nearly 20,000 vessels that pass through the route every year are expected to drop anchor at Vizhinjam.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topic...0&parent_id=22

[Rajesh SM]

Editorial

http://www.deshabhimani.com/Profile.aspx?user=29675

[Rajesh SM]

CM's feature in Deshabhimani abt Vizhinjam

http://www.deshabhimani.com/Profile.aspx?user=29677

[satsk3]

I think we can also include the "Vizhinjam Project" to "SSC Main (World Development News)" and also include to the "Infrastructure Thread" too.
Can anybody do this?

[scorpiogenius]

Sorry to be off topic, but I feel it wouldn't be inappropriate here to see where Vizhinjam stands when compared to other illustrious ports around the world.. I just went for a trip around the major harbours of the world, on the net, just out of curiosity.

Here are the depths of major ports across the world..

New York: 16m http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Harbor
Rotterdam: 24 m http://www.portofrotterdam.com/en/ab...tion/index.jsp
London: 14m...and screwed up..maximum depth as they have hit rock bottom...literally
Singapore: 16m http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Singapore
Shanghai: 7m, now constantly dredged to keep it to 16m...They are severely constrained by these shallow waters and they are building a new port on an island 30km off the shores and the natural depth they got there is 13m!!!Read it here: http://www.sinoptic.ch/shanghaiflash...ghai.Flash.pdf

And Vizhinjam has a natural draft of 18m and 24m just 2km off the shoreline...So, its all said!

[Rajesh SM]

[IMG][/IMG]

[nishanthnair]

Source-Kerala Kaumudi

[IMG]http://i35.************/2aabuq9.jpg[/IMG]

[Illusionist]

great project and great news...
we need more of this... after all something is gotta make money to pay for all those malls which are coming up by thousands...

[Rajesh SM]

Vizhinjam starts to make fascination among its neighbours and a cause of concern for them as well
See this latest report form a Srilankan newspaper

South Indian ports spending $2.5bn to compete with colombo
By S. Venkat Narayan Our Special Correspondent

August 8: Colombo port, which handles 70 per cent of total transshipment cargo from India, had better watch out! Competition from south Indian ports is round the corner.Ports in south India, both on the west and east coasts, are planning to invest up to $2.5 billion, or about 250 billion Sri Lankan rupees, in the next two to three years in a bid to become a hub for container traffic.
In short, they are gearing up to compete with Colombo.

While ports in Tamil Nadu such as those in Chennai, Ennore, Tuticorin and Colachel are adding new facilities, Kerala’s Vallarpadam and Vizhinjam ports too are not far behind.
Colombo is the dominant port in the region. It handled around 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) last year as against its capacity of 3.7 million TEUs. At the current growth rate, the port will reach its full capacity by 2010.
Indian shipping industry sources feel this is the right time for this country to have a transshipment port of its own. Since the country does not have any hub port like Colombo to accommodate bigger vessels, Indian shippers are incurring additional cost as transshipment fee, which is $150 in Colombo.
India not only can garner a substantial portion of this fee, but also save a lot of money if the ships are handled at the Indian ports. If a container is handled in Chennai, a shipper can save around $400. According to the National Maritime Development Programme of the federal government here, India’s container throughput will more than triple by 2011-12 from 5.5 million TEUs in 2006-07. With 27 container berths (about 300 m long each) available in the country, there is a need to develop huge additional capacity in its ports for handling containers.

Indian ports like Tuticorin, Colachel and Vizhinjam have natural advantages both in terms of depth and proximity to the international routes.

For instance, Colachel, situated in the southernmost tip of Tamil Nadu, has a natural port protected on all sides by rocks and has a depth of around 15 metre. The port appears like a bay and steamers of 10,000-15,000 tonnes can anchor here. Similarly, Vizhinjam is just 200 nautical miles and 10 hours of sailing from Colombo.
Depth and proximity to international sea route are the two most important criteria for transshipment hubs.

While Vizhinjam has a depth of 20 metres, being just 10 nautical miles away from international lines, it is also a better choice. Coupled with other advantages like low tidal variation and little littoral drift, Vizhinjam holds the maximum potential to be the next major transshipment hub.

"The government should seriously consider developing these ports to replace Colombo. The total transshipment cargo is expected to increase by 80 per cent," says an Indian shipping line official.
This apart, size of the container ships is getting bigger. While a container feeder vessel has an average capacity of 1,000 TEUs, the mother vessels can carry over 6,000 TEUs. To handle such vessels, the ports require a draft of over 15 metres, which they already have naturally.

http://www.island.lk/2008/08/09/business1.html

[Rajesh SM]

Nod for Vizhinjam port to boost economic activities

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 8 Economic activities down South are set to gain further momentum with the Kerala Government's Vizhinjam International Transshipment Container Terminal (VITCT) near here getting the crucial security clearance from the Defence Ministry for starting work on the Rs 5,400 crore project.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in five years.

The state government has chosen a consortium, headed by Hyderabad-based Lanco Kondapali for developing the Public- Private Partnership project with 24 per cent stake for the state on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis through global tenders floated last year.

In 2006, an international consortium was almost finalised as the partner, but had to be given up as the Centre refused to give the nod on security grounds since it included two Chinese companies.

Located 10 km south of the state capital, Vizhinjam has all the strategic advantages. The site has a natural draft of 16 metres at berth, which can be increased up to 18.7 metres. It is situated just 10 nautical miles from the vital East-West maritime route, linking Europe and Persian Gulf with East Asia.

In the event of the Sethusamaudram ship canal project off Tamil Nadu coast materialising, the importance of Vizhinjam will further increase as the two maritime facilities lying in proximity could boost export-import activities of the entire south. PTI

http://www.outlookbusiness.com/newsa...9%20Aug%202008

[beam]

Here comes the zoom developers and high court story again
Just sincerely wish some of our esteemed high court lawyers donot intend to make a living out of delaying mega projects like vizhinjam

News report below:
--------------------------------------------------
Aug 12 2008

Kerala High Court admits writ appeal of Vizhinjam Port case
Kerala High Court today admitted a writ petition challenging the single bench decision ratifying the State Government's action in awarding the construction of the Vizhinjam deepwater seaport and international transhipment container terminal to Lanco Kondapalli Power Private Ltd., Hyderabad.

The single bench had dismissed Zoom Developer's challenge against the Government's decision to award the contract to Lanco on 3rd July.

UNI
--------------------------
Link at
http://students.indlaw.com/guest/dis...9-86b27ef64bbc

[phaedrus]

nice little write up about the port

From sleepy hamlet to bustling port?

Last week, the Union Defence Ministry announced that it was clearing the project proposal for the Rs 5,348 crore international deepwater seaport and container transshipment terminal at Vizhinjam, 16 km south of Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram, close to the famed beach destination of Kovalam.

This is good news for Kerala in general and for the State’s capital in particular, and especially for the Kerala Ports Minister, Mr M. Vijayakumar, who has been a crusader for the city’s development. According to official projections, the Vizhinjam project, which forms part of the “Capital Region Development initiative”, is expected to create 5,000 direct jobs and 150,000 indirect employment opportunities.

There are still some roadblocks on the path of the project as the proposal will now have to be cleared by the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing. The previous government’s effort to seal a deal with a consortium of two Chinese and one Indian firm, selected through a global tender during its reign in 2004-06, came a cropper since the Union Government had serious security objections to the Chinese firms’ links with a Pakistan port project.

Now a consortium headed by Lanco Kondapally Power Pvt Ltd., the Hyderabad-based infrastructure and power development company, the Malaysia-based Pembinaan Redzai Sdn. Bhd. and Lanco Infrastructure Ltd, will implement the project in two phases on a build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) basis. The first phase, to be completed in three years, envisages an investment of Rs 2,400 crore.
Unique location

What is it about this little fishing village that has all of a sudden hit the headlines? Vizhinjam has some unique selling propositions. For one, it is close to the international east-west shipping route and offers a 20-m contour within a nautical mile off the coast. Moreover, there is minimal littoral drift along the coast, which negates the need for regular maintenance dredging.

The proposed port’s water depth of 16 m will be increased to 18.7 m in a phased manner, which would allow vessel sizes up to 12,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard for measuring container volume) to berth comfortably. Vizhinjam is adjacent to Thiruvananthapuram city, which has an international airport and is well linked to the regional/national road and rail network, and also offers fairly developed human resource and social infrastructure.

Container traffic in India has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14 per cent during the last decade. This growth, coupled with the increasingly buoyant international container trade, has led to a trend of agglomeration of vessels, whose sizes have been correspondingly increasing.

This was the rationale for trying to establish an international transshipment terminal close to southern tip of the Indian peninsula to attract vessels on the east-west shipping lanes. The Vizhinjam port is designed to handle 1.8 million TEUs, rising eventually to 5.3 million TEUs.
Nodal agency

The Government of Kerala has incorporated a fully owned company, called the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL), to act as the nodal agency for the project and to provide external support infrastructure such as linkages and power/water supply. IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. is the strategic advisor for project structuring, procurement of consultants and developer(s).

The knowledge partners of the project are M/s L&T-RAMBOLL Consulting Engineers Limited, in association with ROGGE Marine Consulting GMBH, Germany, RAMBOLL, Denmark, and L&T Capital Company Limited, who have carried out feasibility studies.

On paper, needless to add, all this sounds fine. With such renowned corporates backing the project, can Vizhinjam come a cropper? Well, there is no need to go far to realize that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip. In nearby Kochi, the proposed Vallarpadam transshipment container project is yet to see the light of day, despite over a decade of serious effort and promises. And past experience with mammoth power projects shows that even the best of backers can pull out at the last minute or just jump ship. So whether Vizhinjam will transform itself from the proverbial sleepy fishing hamlet into a bustling port, is a billion-rupee question. Yet, as they say, every voyage starts with the first step.

source businessline.com