The Kerala Government (India) has launched a global tender to select a private partner for the Rs 40.000 million (US$640 million) Vizhinjam International Deepwater Seaport (VISL), near Thiruvananthapuram.Kerala's Department of Ports has decided to undertake the development and operation/ maintenance of the Vizhinjam International Deep water Multipurpose Seaport Project through a Public-Private Partnership on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.The advantages of Vizhinjam are:

• Availability of 20m contour within one nautical mile from the coast.
• Minimal littoral drift along the coast, hardly any maintenance dredging required.
• Links to national/regional road, rail network
• Flexibility in design and expansion being a greenfield project
• Proximity to International shipping route

The national Planning Commission recently approved 20% viability gap-funding for the project and gave green light to the start of the tender process.Request For Qualification for development of Vizhinjam International SeaPort:http://vizhinjamport.in/downloads/RFQ__for__Development_of_Vizhinjam_International__Deepwater_Multipurpose_Seaport.pdf