THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Ports Minister V Surendran Pillai has charged the UDF Government of using the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) as a front for promoting the interests of private firms.With the SCI pulling out of the project, the State Government is duty-bound to explain as to why it extended the deadlines for submitting financial proposals on multiple occasions, Surendran Pillai, who took over the Ports portfolio from M Vijayakumar during the LDF rule, said.He alleged sinister motives behind the three extensions given by the UDF to consortiums for finalising their financial proposals. Surendran Pillai’s statement comes in the wake of the consortium led by Central Government-undertaking SCI withdrawing from the multi-crore project.SCI and the State Government had stated that the withdrawal was due to SCI’s consortium partner Hindustan Construction Corporation backing out. Surendran Pillai, in a statement here, said that the actions of the UDF Government will result in undue delay in project implementation and even scuttle the prospects of a seaport at Vizhinjam.Surendran Pillai said that the truth behind the global tenders for selecting the port operator should be brought out. The UDF Government had unnecessarily postponed the deadlines ostensibly for the SCI, to aid private companies eyeing the project.Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is the chairman of the Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd, the company formed by the State Government to oversee the project, should clarify on this issue, Surendran Pillai said.
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