Close on the heels of Ponnani port, the Kerala Government has invited global bids for the development of yet another port, Azhikkal in Kannur district as a public private partnership project.

Azhikkal is one of the six among 17 notified ports identified by the State Government for development through the PPP route. Azhikkal is one of the oldest ports in the state and is located midway between the major ports of Mangalore and Kochi.

The development of the port is expected to catalyze the development of the north Malabar region as also the Coorg region of Karnataka. The development of the port has been pending for more than a decade and the first project report was prepared by ICICI-Kinfra a joint venture between ICICI and the state owned Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation in association with Howai India.

The ocean study was done by L&T Ramboll. The proposal was for the creation of berthing and allied facilities for cargo and container ships and a ship-repairing yard. An oil jetty, dry dock and facilities for cruise liners also were also parts of the project. The Government, a couple of years ago, appointed Deloitte India Ltd. to rework the project in the light of a Union Government proposal to include the port in the National Maritime Development Program. Though the project report is ready, the Central proposal has remained on paper even after two years, which prompted the Government to take up the project through the PPP route. The total cost was originally estimated around INR 1,750 crore. The project was to be implemented in modules with construction of berthing and related facilities to be taken up in the first module. The Government has already spent INR 20 crore during the past four years for developmental activities.

(Sourced from BL)