PM Modi to dedicate Vizhinjam port to the nation today; CPI(M) and Congress claim credit

Indian Express

02-05-2025

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Vizhinjam International Seaport, the country's first international deepwater transhipment project in Kerala, to the nation Friday, marking the first phase of the Rs 18,000 crore mega investment.
PM Modi, who reached Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala's capital, Thursday night, will fly to the port by a chopper at 10.15 am, and visit its operations centre and deck before inaugurating the first phase of the project, which has already emerged as the country's landmark in the maritime industry.
Adani Ports and SEZ Private Limited are building the Vizhinjam International Seaport project on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) model. Adani Group is investing Rs 9,000 crore in the project.
Since the trial run began last July, Vizhinjam International Seaport has made remarkable achievements in transhipment container handling. So far, 285 ships have docked at the port, which includes some of the largest container ships in the world. Last month, MSC Türkiye, one of the world's largest container carriers, docked at Vizhinjam, marking another milestone in the journey of India's first deepwater transhipment port.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) had included the Vizhinjam seaport in its Jade service. This cemented Vizhinjam's role as a key hub in the Asia-Europe shipping route, ushering in a new era of maritime connectivity and economic growth.
The inauguration of the Vizhinjam port comes two years after the fishermen community staged a protest against the project.
Meanwhile, the ruling CPI(M) and the Opposition Congress got into a war of words over the parenthood of the dream project of the state. While CPI(M) has claimed that the project is a feat of its nine-year regime, Congress said the credit goes to the Oommen Chandy-led government, which had inked the deal with Adani Group in 2015.
Congress has taken strong exception to highlighting the project as one of the major feats of the CPI(M)'s nine-year regime. Opposition leader V D Satheesan has decided to keep away from the inaugural function in protest against the last-minute inclusion of his name among the dignitaries.
In 2015, when the Congress regime inked the pact with the Adani Group, Pinarayi Vijayan, then CPI(M) state secretary, had dubbed it a land scam worth Rs 6,000 crore. Later, the Vijayan government in 2016 ordered a judicial probe into it. But nothing emerged out of the probe.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Wednesday told the media, 'People will give credit to the deserving. Laying the foundation stone alone will not bring development. The last nine years have been very crucial and the state government has done all things it was bound to do to realise the project'.
Satheesan said, 'The people of Kerala know that the project is a symbol of the willpower of the Chandy government of the Congress. It is ludicrous to see the CPI(M) government trying to usurp that credit,'' he said.
Local legislator M Vincent, who represents the Vizhinjam area in the Kerala Assembly, Friday visited Chandy's grave at Puthuppally in Kottayam, before leaving to attend the inauguration.