VISL to finalise master plan by June

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A workshop, involving stakeholders, will be held here in January ahead of finalising the master plan for the Vizhinjam seaport project. Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL), the State Government company in charge of the multi-crore project, plans to finalise the master plan and float the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) bids for the project by June when the ongoing Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) at Vizhinjam is scheduled to be completed.A board meeting of the VISL held here on Wednesday reviewed the progress of the project. Major works undertaken thus far include land acquisition for the basic infrastructure such as road and rail connectivity.The two firms whose technical bids were approved by the State Government had also received clearance from the Defence and External Affairs Ministries. The nod from the Home Ministry is awaited, subsequent to which the State Government will take up the financial proposals submitted by the two bidders for determining the private partner for the project. The review, chaired by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is chairman of VISL, went off satisfactorily, VISL CEO Suresh Babu said. Ports Minister K Babu, Finance Minister K M Mani, Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Chief Secretary P Prabhakaran and the finance secretary attended.