Vizhinjam’s maritime trade dates back to the second century BC. The old maritime hub is back in the news, with Vizhinjam International Seaport commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
Vizhinjam is believed to have been developed into a small port by Raja Kesavadas, who was the Diwan of Travancore during the reign of Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma. However, when Sir Divin Ramaswamy Iyer was once the Deivin of Travencole State University, Sir Divin first, the idea of ​​modern ports in Vije County.
British engineer
The investigation isIn the mid-1940s, led by a British engineer, he arrived at Travancore. In 1946, a Vizhinjam Port Special District was established under the airport department of the Public Works Department. But when the country gained independence, the work stagnated.
However, as debugging of the port approaches, the authorities seem to have forgotten the initial team that conducted an investigation into the development of Vizhinjam, which developed Vizhinjam to the main seaport. GG Menon of Thiruvananthapuram, an engineer who retired from the Kerala Public Works Department (PWD) and will be 103 next month, is part of the engineer team who began the investigation in the 1940s that entered the coastal area for the development of Vizhinjam according to the orders of Ramaswamy Iyer.
As the harbor is now ready for its commissioning, the only task of recalling the arduous task of the team taking on in the mid-40s to conduct the investigation was to forget the ocean on the small ship with imported tools. Speech Hindu His son, Sasikumar Menon, said no one in the state government contacted him or invited him to the opening ceremony.
Mr Menon said Ramaswamy Iyer believes that the commercial harbour in Vizhinjam even plans to connect Vellayani Lake to the port. Mr Menon is part of the investigation team to take a boat in the area to investigate depth and tidal changes in the highest one mile, which is part of the preparation layout, water availability and other details. Although the project was relocated to other departments by officials from the then government and port department, the project gained momentum again in 1995, when the then government took the initiative to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a company from Kumar Energy Corporation and a company from Hyderabad, Kumar Energy Corporation (Hyderabad), to develop the building-running ports on the basis of the transfer (Bot).
Cancel later
It was also cancelled later. Ten years after this, another feasibility study was conducted in 2004 and it was decided to establish a port in Vizhinjam near the existing fishing port. According to the study, despite the lack of success due to safety reasons, the first global bid was floating in 2005. Later, bids floated again in 2007, 2010, and finally in 2014, paving the way for Vizhinjam to turn it into a transshipment hub to transform the entire country and mark its own space in global maritime trade.
publishing – April 30, 2025 12:53 AM IST
