Addressing a media meet here on Thursday, chairman Abdul Wahab and managing director John Parry reiterated that the Beypore project was only deferred and Mobil Peevees was not pulling out. The project investments worth Rs 28 crore would remain intact till the project was taken up again. But the company was unwilling to disclose the names of the MNCs it was negotiating with.

According to Wahab who has 50 per cent shareholding, some imponderables had to be resolved first. The major one was the economic consideration, ie., whether the port would generate enough revenues for adequate return. Currently, Mobil Peeves envisages a captive use ofonly 20 per cent of the port's facilities. If other investors were willing to either invest in the project or come forward for the remaining 80 per cent throughput arrangements, the project would get off the ground.

Parry, however, said Mobil Peevees could wait another two years before starting the Beypore project. "When we first came three years ago, there were hardly any jetty facilities available for LPG import. Today, the situation is different. We plan to sign long-term contracts ranging from 5 to 7 years which would facilitate imports," he said.

"The initial cost of the project was Rs 35 crore (Phase 1), but since then, it has gone up to Rs 100 crore, because of delays in getting various permits," Parry said.

Meanwhile, the company was not averse to developing other ports in the eastern coast in future. "First, we were planning for this after some years as our business grows. But this could be given greater priority now," Parry said.

The company also had some grouses against the Keralagovernment which had a 5 per cent stake in the project. The state had insisted all of a sudden that the dredged material (from the channel) be used to reclaim land instead of being dumped into the sea 3 km down, as was the international practice. This would involve an additional cost of $2 million. The state said it would require some time for identifying the dumping site, contributing to the delay. Besides it did not commit itself in part-financing of the maintenance of the channel which has to be dredged regularly.

Further, it still had not given the 'patta' to the squatter fishermen who were given a portion of company land. There were 100 squatter families upon whom the company had spent considerable funds out of its resources, but now they were turning hostile, Parry said.