Thursday 22 October 2009

Vizhinjam Port

Vizhinjam has a number of strengths as a port. The Port is only a 10 NM diversion from international east-west shipping route and is also close to national/regional road, air and rail networks. The sea is 23 to 27 metres deep at the proposed site. This would facilitate berthing of large container ships sizes of 8,000 TUS and later 10,000 and 12,000 TUS, No other existing Indian port has this much capacity to allow entry to large ships. This will boost the trade and commercial activities not only in Kerala but to the whole India. It is estimated that the cargo movements to southern, northern and western regions may find it more cost-effecitve to use Vizhinjam as a gateway/trans-shipment terminal instead of ports in Colombo, Singapore, Salalah.

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Brief History of Kovalam

Kovalam, was once a traditional Indian village on the the southern tip of Kerala. Fishing in the Arabian Sea was the main income, while behind the shoreline coconut trees, agriculture. It had rice fields, fruit trees, animals, narrow footpaths, thatched dwellings with courtyards for drying fish and agricultural produce. A very quite selcluded way of life.

When it became popular with hippies and backpackers due to its spectacular beach with shallow crystal clear waters in the morning and big rolling waves in the afternoon. The Lives of the locals changed forever. Soon basic restaurants appeared, rooms were rented and local womens started selling fruit to the ever increasing numbers of guests. At this stage Kovalam village was still mainly rural, women came door to door selling fish, while rice and vegetables was generally purchasd in the local store.

During the 80s with international flights arriving in Trivandrum, the pace of change speeded up rapidly. Many Keralites including people from Kovalam, went to the gulf states for work, investing their savings back in Kovalam. Each year the thatched dwellings, began to disapear with the land being divided into plots. And uptil then, the locals, who worked on the beach who had not yet discovered how beneficial prime real estate could be, began to lease the plots. New concrete cafes and restaurants began to replace the traditional palm walled and roofed shacks. New hotels and guest houses appeared yearly. The fishermen at the next village Vizhinjam invested in the mechanisation of their fishing fleet thus increasing their catch for the domestic market and anticipated increase in tourism in Kovalam, due to the planned package tours from europe. The Kerala Government invested in the infrastructure and implemented some restrictiveplaning permission which has generally suceeded.