ITD Cementation, an Indian firm with Thai and Italian parentage, has been signed up to give a leg up to the granite-sourcing issues niggling Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited (AVPPL). The Rs 7,525-crore deep-sea international port is yet to accomplish construction of even 50% of its Phase I of the project, although it is over three years since civil work got underway.
Besides Ockhi cyclone, a major cause for the delay in the port-development was the shortage of granite boulders to build its crucial groyne structure. AVPPL needs about 80 lakh tonne of granite boulders to build the pyramid-shaped groyne. As many as 8,500 accropodes are readied to strengthen it.
“The new contract has been awarded to ITD Cementation, one of the largest civil construction firms in South Asia, which has Thai raw material sourcing experts,” AVPPL sources told FE.
After months of granite sourcing problems, the Kerala government had intervened by making linkages with local granite quarries. Out of 11 local quarries with which AVPPL had negotiated, one in the neighbourhood had agreed to be a captive granite supplier. However, with ITD Cementation assigned the task of procuring granite, the idea is to address the issue through sea.
“After the construction of a new wharf in Muthalapozhi to move in the granite through the sea, sourcing issues are likely to be resolved by next month,” say AVPPL officials.
What delayed the construction of the 3.1-km groyne was mainly the Ockhi cyclone. When 700 metres of groyne was constructed, the cyclone last year, devastated about 150 metres, at one go.
According to the contract with the Kerala government, the first Phase of the project should be completed by December 19, 2019. With the granite-sourcing issues nearly sorted out, AVPPL expects the Phase I to be ready by early months of 2020.