5 consortia bids for Vizhinjam terminal

Thiruvananthapuram: In response to the global tender floated for identifying the promoter for the proposed international container trans-shipment terminal at Vizhinjam, near here, five consortia have submitted bids as the deadline expired on Thursday.

The five consortia are: D.S. Constructions, New Delhi, in association with Apollo Enterprises Ltd and KGL Ports International, Dubai; Nagarjuna Construction Company (Hyderabad), Maytas and OPM (Singapore); Videocon Industries Ltd (Mumbai), Gammon India, Gammon Infra and Sical Logistics; Lanco Infratech Ltd (Hyderabad), Lanco Power and Pembinan Redzai Sdn Bdh (Malaysia); and Zoom Developers (Mumbai), Portia Management Services and Peter Fraenkael and Partners, both of the UK.

Investors’ meet

The Kerala Government had held a global investors’ meet for the project in April last year, which was attended by 43 companies from within and outside the country. Later, as many as 33 companies bought the request for proposal (RFP) after the global tender was floated in July 2007.

The Minister for Ports, Mr M. Vijayakumar, said that the project, estimated to cost Rs 5,348 crore, would be implemented on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Efforts would be made to implement and commission the project at the shortest time possible, he added.