High wave action in the Arabian Sea has, in a near-repeat of the scenario witnessed post-Cyclone Ockhi last year, halted work at the Vizhinjam International Multi-Purpose Deepwater Seaport here.

Angry waves triggered by an active monsoon over the past two days are reported to have damaged the temporary steel and stone approaches, from the operating platform to the jack-up platform. According to official sources, the two jack-up platforms had not suffered major damage in the monsoon.

The construction of berths has come to a halt, according to concessionaire Adani Vizhinjam Port, the private multi-port operator entrusted with building the superstructure and operating the seaport.

Afcons Infrastructure has been entrusted the construction of an 800-metre container berth south of the breakwater and another 500-metre fishing berth alongside the breakwater, to its north.

Workers on the jack-up platform and construction site have been moved to a safer place, leaving behind equipment at the berths, a spokesperson for the operator said.

Kerala Minister for Ports, Kadannappally Ramachandran, and Thiruvananthapuram Mayor, V.K. Prasanth, who attended a CSR function of the Adani Group yesterday, were taken around the site.

They were accompanied by K Jayakumar, Managing Director and CEO of Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd, the SPV set up by the government as the implementing agency.

According to the spokesperson, authorities of the Adani Vizhinjam Port briefed them about the damage to equipment in the inclement weather. The concession agreement envisages a construction period of four years, though the government and the concessionaire had announced a target of 1,000 days to make the port commercially operational.

Post-Ockhi, however, Adani Vizhinjam Port had approached the government seeking an extended timeline for completion of the project. This has not been granted yet.

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