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Adani Ports and SEZ has emerged as the only bidder for the Vizhinjam International Deepwater Seaport (VISL) container terminal PPP project in India.

Two other teams were shortlisted, ESSAR Ports and a consortium composed by Srei Infrastructure and OHL, but finally they do not submit any bid for the project.

The port is expected to be one of the largest ports in the world. It is envisaged to provide a total of 2000 m of quay length in three phases. The project involves the development of a container transshipment terminal with a capacity to load 600,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year initially, which can be scaled up to 1 million TEUs as per demand. Once completed, ships with a capacity of even 18,000 TEU could dock.

The project would be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. It would have a contract period of 40 years which could be extended by another 20 years.

The total project investment is estimated at Rs40.9 billion (US$721 million). The project will be the first port project to be granted a viability gap funding (VGF), which would come up to Rs8.2 billion (US$128.8 million). VGF is a one-time grant given by the central government to support PPP projects in infrastructure that are economically justified but fall short of financial viability.

Vizhinjam is a locality of Thiruvananthapuram city in the state of Kerala. Vizhinjam is a natural port, which is located close to the international ship route and has a natural depth of 24 metres.

We have recently reported about several ports PPP projects globally:

• Kisumu Sea Port PPP project - Kenya
• Ashdod's Southport terminal (HaDarom) concession - Israel
• Haifa's Bayport terminals (HaMifratz) concession- Israel
• Development of the Davao Sasa Port in Philippines - Philippines
• Phu Quoc Island seaport BOT project - Vietnam
• Kingston Container Terminal expansion - Jamaica