Puthuvype liquid terminal project in 24 months.

Work on the long-awaited multi-user liquid terminal on Puthuvype island, mostly for import of cooking gas, was awarded to a Visakhapatnam-based company recently.

The Rs. 217-crore work would be supervised by the Cochin Port Trust for the Indian Oil Corporation and completed in 24 months, said a press release from the CPT recently.

The proposal for an LPG import terminal was mooted in 2009 to end the road transport of LPG from Mangalore. Kerala, with a consumer base of around 80,000, requires about 6.5 lakh tonnes of cooking gas annually.

Indian Oil Corporation was allotted 37 acres on Puthuvype island for the facility. Around 30,000 tonnes of LPG is moved between Mangalore and different destinations in Kerala using bullet tankers.

The bullet tankers take around 12 hours to haul LPG from Mangalore to destinations in Kerala.

The project was held up despite several accidents on National Highway 47 involving LPG tankers, including the one at Chala, near Kannur on August 27, 2012 in which 20 people were killed. Another LPG tanker was involved in a major accident near Karunagappally on December 31, 2009.

The proposed terminal has a capacity to handle around six lakh tonnes of LPG annually in the initial stage. The Indian Oil Corporation was awarded the multi-user liquid terminal on a nomination basis in March 2013 and a concession agreement was signed on April 4, 2015.

In addition to cooking gas, the proposed terminal will handle bunkers and liquids under the supervision of the Port Trust, said the press release.


THE HINDU