The Hindu Business Line : Vizhinjam port investor meet elicits `good response'

Port development
The project envisages the development of the port in a financially and environmentally sustainable manner, said the Kerala Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, while addressing the meet.

Thiruvananthapuram April 17 The Kerala Government received what officials described as "good response" to a global investors' meet organised on Tuesday to showcase the proposed Vizhinjam International Transshipment Terminal.

More than 30 companies, including many foreign ones, attended the meeting that got under way in the evening, sources said.

Among those who have evinced interest in the project are Reliance Industries, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Gammon India, SCI, Ashok Leyland Project Services, L&T ECC, Soma Enterprises, Zoom Developers, J.M. Baxi Group, Lanco Infratech, Macknight Infrastructure and Afcons Infrastructure.

The list of foreign companies featured Maersk (Denmark), VTU Millennium (Singapore), Rosoborone (Russia), NISSIN Corporation (Japan), Beckett Rankine (the UK), Italian-Thai Development Company, Cyan Holdings BV (The Netherlands), and Piolix Christophe Investors and Developers (France). A consortium comprising Obocon Inc of the US, KGL Transport of Kuwait, Astra International of Indonesia and Mumbai-based Unity Infrastructure is learnt to have sent its representative to the meet.

The project envisages the development of the port in a financially and environmentally sustainable manner, said Chief Minister Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, while addressing the meet. Apart from the mature institutional structure already in place in the maritime domain of the State Government, a special purpose vehicle called Vizhinjam International Seaport Company has been created to conceptualise and develop the port.

"We have spared no efforts in the design and development of this project and in scientifically establishing its commercial viability," Mr Achuthanandan said.