The Hindu Business Line : Vizhinjam port investors meet put off to Feb 28

The meet was originally scheduled to be held on February 16, and it has been postponed in view of the forthcoming international maritime meet in Kuala Lumpur between February 24 and 26, according to top officials in the Department of Ports.

The department is planning to showcase the Vizhinjam project at Kuala Lumpur and attract more prospective investors for the meet in Thiruvananthapuram. A visit to the site of the project on February 27 is also being organised as part of the investors meet. The officials said the invitation for expression of interest in the project, which envisages development of the port into an international container transhipment terminal, has elicited good response. There have been preliminary enquiries from companies in Italy, Malta and Canada, besides some leading Indian firms.

These apart, well-known entities in the field such as Dubai Port International, Singapore Port Authority and Indo-British Ports Consortium are also in touch with the department. A team from Singapore Port Authority is expected to visit the State shortly, the officials said.

However, a clear picture of the expressions of interest in the project will be available only after the investors meet, they added. Meanwhile, Parisons Group has submitted the techno-economic proposal for the development of the Beypore port. The proposal, which is being examined by the department, is structured by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The department is also set to invite fresh EoIs for the development of Alappuzha Marina. In the original tender floated a couple of months ago, only the Malaysia-based Trans Resources Corporation had expressed interest in the project. It, however, withdrew from the scene later.

In the case of the Azhikkal project, the department is going ahead with processing of the EoIs received from Universal Lubricants of Sharjah and Antara Koh of Singapore.