The Hindu Business Line : Charting a new course for Cochin port

Developing Willingdon Island to make it a tourism centre will not only attract revenues from tourists, it would also mean significant gains for the Kochi port.

CONSIDERING THE enormous opportunities of the Vallarpadam Transhipment Terminal, the Cochin Chamber of Commerce, the oldest such organisation in Kerala, has initiated steps to convert Willingdon Island into a city centre with facilities for recreation and shopping.

The Chamber held a day-long session, "Cochin Port — A new direction," to look at the possibilities for a makeover of Willingdon Island and the kind of infrastructure that would need to be created.

The Chamber urged the Centre to set up an empowered task force to study the issue and makeland use recommendation to attract long-term investments.

Initiating the discussions, the Chamber President, Mr N. Sreekumar, said the current land policy and tenure would have to change. Status quo should be maintained on the land till the recommendations were made. The task force should have representatives from the Kerala Government, the Port, and trade and commerce.

The Chamber, since its inception in 1857, has represented the trade and industry and has had close association with Kochi and the Port. It has been a forum for the articulation of new ideas that benefit not just its constituency but the State and the nation at large.

According to an approach note circulated in the discussion, bulk cargo had significantly given way to containerisation and this will be served by the new terminal at Vallarpadam. Petroleum products had a separate terminal. The old wharfs are falling into disuse and with the completion of the Vallarpadam Transhipment Terminal there may be too many unused cargo wharfs in the old port at Willingdon Island.

But while one activity declines in the old port, another is increasing — cruise vessels. From just a few, the number of cruise vessels calling at the port has risen.

Tourism has emerged as Kerala's core competence. Despite all the noise and the double-digit growth achieved, the country, the State and Kochi have not even scratched the surface of one of the fastest growing industries.

Re-development of Willingdon Island to make it a tourism centre will be another step in the fulfilment of its role. The Island provides Kochi and Kerala an unprecedented opportunity to create such a space. Such a step would, besides attracting tourism, and the entertainment and knowledge sectors, also mean significant gains for the port.

The Kerala Fisheries Minister, Mr Dominic Presentation, raised some fears over further reclamation of backwaters for tourism-related purposes saying that it would affect the livelihood of fishermen. The Minister said that after the tsunami the fishermen were going through a difficult phase and further reclamation of the backwaters would considerably reduce their area of operations.

The Shipping Secretary, Mr D. T. Joseph, said that the whole programme should be institutionalised with a central theme and there should be a collaboration of inter-disciplinary bodies including local bodies, truckers, container yards and the residents. However, he said that a time-frame is important, as the whole exercise is conceived on the premise that container activity will shift to Vallarpadam.

The Kochi Port Deputy Chairman, Capt Subhash Kumar, said that even after the shifting of container activity, other operations such as bulk cargo and coastal shipping would continue at the island. For this, the port needed a large area for storage of cargoes, he said while referring to the recent arrival of timber logs at the port. The sole area considered for development is the old airport area, which is under the control of the Navy.

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