Chief minister Oommen Chandy to convene meet on ICTT

Chief minister Oommen Chandy will convene a meeting to sort out issues related to International Container Transhipment Terminal at Vallarpadam. The meeting will be held on July 30. Ministers, local representatives, officials from Cochin Port Trust(CPT) and DP World will take part in the discussions.

Though the terminal completed four years of operations since its commissioning it failed to use its full potential. The ICTT which has a capacity to handle one billion containers it could utilize only 35% of its potential. This has resulted in revenue loss.

For retaining the depth of shipping channel the CPT has to pump in huge amounts for dredging. The state government has requested Centre to provide subsidy for dredging the channel for three years. The CPT has approached Centre with a request to provide Rs 400 crore as financial support.

The frequent hartals called by various political parties also affect smooth transportation of cargo from the terminal. The other issued faced by the CPT include handing charges and imposing of exorbitant fines on container trucks at check post pointing overloading.

The chief minister has agreed to discuss all these issues. The subject was taken up before the state assembly.