Kochi Port is a major port on the Arabian Sea Indian Ocean sea-route and is one of the largest ports in India. The Kochi port’s plans to optimise the use of land available on Willingdon Island seem to have taken a step forward, Daily Shipping Times reports.
The port management has now invited bids for setting up a port user complex on 0.90 hectares to be leased out for a 30-year period. The land is being leased out on an upfront premium basis for setting up the proposed complex, close to the Ernakulam wharf.
The plans include setting up a business district towards the south end of the Island that will cater to the new requirements of the port operations. The new land use plan was drawn up after the management found that land on the Willingdon Island was not being used optimally and to augment income.
The new plan was drawn up so as to divide the land available into areas for core and non-core activities. The new land use plan, when implemented, will give the Willingdon Island a facelift as port activities are now scattered all over the Island. The objective of the port is to bring all port-related activities within a single complex. Earlier, the port authority had decided not to renew lease agreements with its customers that ended in 2011 with a view to embarking on its new land use policy, which was drawn up in keeping with the guidelines of the Union Shipping Ministry.
The port management has plans to set up a tea trade centre on the model of the Dubai Tea Trade Centre in collaboration with Cochin Tea Trade Association; a ship repair complex augmenting the current facilities and a free trade zone on more than 105 acres of land available towards the south of the Willingdon Island. Among the other plans included improving cargo handling facilities and developing the Ernakulam wharf into a dedicated bulk cargo handling facility.
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