Shipping Ministry clears Kochi port proposal for land lease

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Jun 2010

The Shipping Ministry has accorded sanction to the Kochi port to lease out some of its prime properties of land for a period of 60 years to tide over the financial crisis being faced by the port of late.
Based on the permission granted by the Ministry, the port had already tendered some prime locations on lease.
This included 20 acres of waterfront land in Bolghatty Island and eight acres in Marine Drive.
It is also proposed to tender a large plot of 57 acres with three sides of waterfront, which is an ideal location to set up luxury hotel projects, Mr N. Ramachandran, Port Chairman, told Business Line.
The port is expected to generate a substantial amount of revenue through this leasing process. Besides, the port had already tendered two prime plots of land at Vallarpadam (12 acres) and five acres at Willingdon Island for establishing container freight stations, he said.
He said that the port had approached the Ministry seeking permission to lease out some of its prime locations for 60 years. According to the land policy of the Government, such lease is permitted only for a period of 30 years. However, most of the investors are not willing to take the land on lease only for 30 years so as to make large scale investments.
Financial crisis
Considering the port's financial crisis, it was proposed to the Ministry that permission should be given for 60 years in respect of certain clause of land which are not likely to be useful for cargo handling activities, he added.
Referring to the commissioning of Vallarpadam terminal, the Chairman said that the soft launch of the terminal is likely to be held towards the end of July after shifting the entire operations of the present terminal to Vallarpadam.
The terminal operator is in the process of installing necessary equipments, which will take 2-3 weeks to complete.
The two-lane road connectivity from Kalamassery to Vallarpadam is expected to be ready by July 10. About 90 per cent of the total capital dredging work has already been completed and the remaining part will be over within two months.
Security clearance
The port had already conducted two meetings with the Development Commissioner, the Cochin Special Economic Zone and Customs Commissioner for finalising the procedures of shipping activities at Vallarpadam.
He said that the Indian Registrar of Shipping (IRS) has carried out a survey for security clearance as part of the ISPS (International Shipping and Port Security) Code.
The CISF will provide full security round the clock in the terminal.
However, the official launch of the Vallarpadam terminal will depend on the announcement of the local bodies' elections in Kerala which is expected to be held before September, he added.

Source: The Hindu Business Line