Title - Government to acquire 100 acres by March next year

The state government is speeding up acquisition of the remaining land needed for the multi-crore international container transshipment terminal project at Vizhinjam and its neighbourhood. One hundred acres required for construction of warehouses at Kottukal will be taken over by March 31, 2013, Ports Minister K Babu said on Tuesday. ‘’We expect the acquisition to go smoothly. There are in all 900 landowners, but only 40 houses on the 100 acres identified for the purpose,’’ he said after distributing deeds for five cents, hardship allowance and six months’ rent to 42 families displaced at Vizhinjam in connection with the preliminary port-related works like road, truck terminal and back-up area.State government-undertaking Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd will also begin acquisition of land required for laying railway tracks to the port once the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) waves through the new Nemom-Mudavurpara-Vizhinjam alignment proposed by the government. In all, 48 hectares are needed for the rail connectivity for the proposed port, a project included in the 2012-2013 railway budget under the head ‘Last Mile Connectivity.’ Thus far, the state government has acquired 96.05 acres of land in connection with the Vizhinjam project. Of this, 34.55 acres were acquired by the previous LDF government.VISL will place the project before the MoEF for final environmental clearance after holding public hearings on the environment-impact assessment (EIA) report. The EIA was completed in September and the report will be published ahead of the hearings.