Kollam, Thursday 18 June 2009: Kerala Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar has said the State government has already initiated measures to develop the minor port in Kollam into a major one.

He said this while inaugurating the cargo handling operations at the newly-commissioned Kollam port on Wednesday. The Minister inaugurated the cargo handling operations by giving the thumbs-up to a crane for lifting a bag of ballast and load the same into the ship. The vessel, mv Anakuri, is carrying a consignment of building materials comprising sand and ballast from here to the Maldives.

Vijayakumar said the government had appointed the New York-based professional service organisation Deloitte as the consultant for the development of the port.

The development would be through public-private partnership. Later, global tenders would be floated for the purpose. The government had also started the process of enabling passenger ships to operate from the port. The Minicoy Island offered tremendous scope in this connection, he said.

The Kollam port has a good basin with a draft of 7 m. This will be soon increased to 10 m so as to enable ships with 50,000 DWT to call at the port. The length of the wharf will also be increased to 220 m from the present 116 m.

In his presidential address, Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan said the cashew industry was poised to benefit a lot from the port. The loading and unloading system at sea ports were not what it used to be in the past. Therefore, when the the port becomes full-fledged, the loading system would have to get streamlined accordingly, he said.
He called for the cooperation of all concerned in helping the development of the Kollam port into a major one at the earliest.

Fisheries Minister S. Sarma, in his address, said that at a time when all export activity was hit by recession, the arrival of a ship to carry a load of building materials from here to the Maldives was a big achievement. He said the dredging work in the harbour, at a cost of Rs.2 crore, would commence on June 30. It would be completed in three or four months.

(Agency)