Refusal to bid for Vizhinjam Deepsea port surprised govt: CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Wednesday said the state government was "surprised" by companies' refusal to bid for the multi-crore Vizhinjam International Deepwater Seaport project here.

He said the Adani Group was among three companies that had refused to bid for the project and had held talks with government.

The company had expressed reservations over the cabotage law and the state had brought it to the notice of the Centre, he said, adding, the government was confident that there would be necessary relaxation of the law for the port.

"The attitude of Adani port was very positive," he said here after a cabinet meeting.

The CM said government would also try to have talks with the other two companies--Essar Ports and a consortium of Srei Infrastructure and OHL--that had submitted Expression of Interest for the project.

The government was surprised by their refusal to bid for the project, he said.

The much awaited project had met with a hurdle last week with no companies submitting the final bid for taking up the contract for its construction and operation when the last date for bidding came up.

Government has further extended the tender period by one month.

The contract is for building port superstructure estimated to cost Rs 6,000 crore and operate it for 40 years.