Adani port project at Vizhinjam may not stick to deadline as break water construction puts breaks on the project

The Adani Group has placed orders for 32 cranes for the Vizhinjam seaport project. Eight of the cranes will be used for loading and unloading shipping containers. The rest are smaller ones designed for the movement of containers inside the container yard.

The Vizhinjam project is back in the headlines with work on the 3.1 km breakwater halted due to scarcity of rock. 

Heavy damage sustained by the dredgers during cyclone Ockhi in November last year had also affected the dredging of the channel approach to the proposed port. Sources at Adani Vizhinjam Port Pvt Ltd (AVPPL) said that the company has completed the erection of 260 piles that are crucial for the construction of the berths, a key component of the first phase of the project.

Efforts are also on, with the help of the state government, to sort out problems in rock procurement for the breakwater construction. Recent attempts at procuring rock from quarries in Nagaroor region in Thiruvananthapuram district had to be halted due to local protests.

All-party meetings convened by the district administration had not helped solve the disputes. After the concession agreement with the state government was signed in September 2015, the Adani group began construction on December 5 the same year. 

The first 900 days of work has also been marred by protests by residents in the project area and problems due to natural calamities like cyclone Ockhi and coastal erosion. However, the state government has refused to extend the deadline for phase one even though the Ahmedabad-based group has expressed doubts as to whether it will be able to stick to it.