Call to review pact with Dubai Port World

KOCHI: The labour trustees of Cochin Port Trust (CPT) P M Mohammed Haneefa and C D Nandakumar on Friday visited Shipping Minister G K Vasan and raised a demand to review the licence agreement signed with the Dubai Port World for International Container Transshipment Terminal, Vallarpadam.The trustees urged the minister to allot Rs 400 crore as grant to the CPT to tackle the current financial crisis.They further wanted the minister to permit the port management to avail a loan of Rs150 crore.The trustees who are also the leaders of the two major trade unions at the port said that the port management was facing a loss because of the huge expense for the dredging of berth basin and channel for the Vallarpadam Container Terminal.“During the previous years the dredging cost was Rs 40 crore per annum, but after commissioning the ICTT it rose to to Rs165 crore.At the same time the income from ICTT is comparatively very low,” the leaders said.They further said that the expenditure of Rs 230 crore for unproductive projects such as Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS), e- port and reconstruction of Q4 berth made the exchequer of the port weak. Now the port has to earmark Rs 4 crore in a year for maintaining VTMS and SAP, they said. Leaders of other trade unions such as Cochin Thuramukha Thozhilali Union, Cochin Labour Union and Cochin Port and Dock Employees Union also submitted a memorandum to the minister raising these demands.