Despite the southwest monsoon fury, the construction of the berth of the proposed International Multipurpose Deepwater Seaport at Vizhinjam is advancing as per plan.
Half of the 615 piles of the berth have been completed by Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd (AVPPL), the private multiport operator selected to build the superstructure and operate the seaport. A spokesman of the AVPPL said on Saturday that 305 piles had been completed. The 800-m berth will be completed in phase I of the project. The casting of accropodes (concrete blocks) needed to protect the core of the 3.1-km-long breakwater too was progressing. Of the 17,000 accropodes required, 5,500 had been cast. The AVPPL has announced that it will construct the remaining stretch of the breakwater, in deep waters, in one go to save time.
Granite sourcing
The AVPPL is also trying to source granite on its own from the capital and adjoining districts and from Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu to build the breakwater. Government efforts to expedite the sourcing of granite from Thiruvananthapuram has not been fruitful following opposition from the locals against quarrying.
Dredging had come to a standstill after the two dredgers suffered heavy damage in Cyclone Ockhi and will resume only after the monsoon. The AVPPL has placed orders for eight 72-m cranes that can shift containers from vessels that berth at the seaport to the yard and for 24 small cranes.
The 1,000-day target announced by the AVPPL after signing the concession agreement for the project with the State government will end in December 2019 though a four-year deadline had been fixed in the pact signed in August 2015.