GVK Industries would be open to evaluating the opportunity if proposed Vizhinjam port project were to go for a re-tender. “We would be interested in a port project on the west coast of India,” Mr G.V. Sanjay Reddy, Vice-Chairman - GVK Industries, told Business Line here.

He said in this in the specific context of the State government having not ruled out the possibility of a re-tender for the Vizhinjam project. The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, had said that the Government would ensure that a re-tender, if at all, would not delay the port and container terminal project. Earlier, a Welspun Group-led consortium, the single bidder, had agreed to bring down the grant amount by Rs 20 crore from the Rs 479 crore it had earlier sought. The consortium is reportedly willing to scale it down by another Rs 20 crore if it goes on to win the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract as well.

“As long as the project is viable and as long as there is potential and if it aligns with our interests, we’ll definitely look at it,” Mr Reddy said. But he was not sure if the same could be said about the Kannur airport project in the State. “I really don’t know. As far as I am concerned, Kannur falls within a particular region, but is not linked to any known city and doesn’t offer a base traffic.” Now, an airport is as good as the traffic offered. GVK Industries is comfortable with a project involving an existing airport requiring expansion and modernisation. If it is a Greenfield airport, it becomes very difficult because it is like road projects taken up for widening without knowing traffic volumes,” Mr Reddy said.

“You can take a risk with traffic growth projections, but not with base traffic. If you go a little bit off, the project could move from being workable to totally unviable.” Mr Reddy was of the view that the proposed Navi Mumbai airport project too faced the same issues.

> vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in

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