Row over golf course at Vallarpadom terminal

Uncertainty plaguing the Vallarpadom Transhipment Container Terminal is casting its shadow over the Kerala state governments proposal to lay an 18-hole golf link of international standards in the green belt area of the project.

Mooted as a joint venture of the Tourism Resorts Kerala Ltd (TRKL) and the Cochin Port Trust (CPT), the golf course project is still on the drawing-sheet stage. TRKL, meanwhile, has identified G S Oberoi as the architect for the project. Sources say he will soon submit an elaborate report on the concept.

CPT sources, however, maintain that the project is directly linked to the Vallarpadom project and any further initiative will depend on its future. "We have submitted a feasibility report on the golf course project also to the ministry of surface transport. But the clearance depends on the Vallarpadom project."

But CPT chairman Jacob Thomas is highly optimistic about the project, which is capable of giving that extra edge to Kochi as a cruise destination. "There is no reason why we shouldnt get a clearance. We have presented a report and the initial feedback is quite promising."

TRKL director A Harshan, however, feels the golf course project can be executed as an independent one and it need not be linked to the transhipment terminal. "This is a very promising concept. And the investment required is just Rs 20 crore. TRKL and CPT are capable of laying the turf."

Harshan says TRKL is for forming a separate entity to execute the golf course project. "The main partners will be CPT and TRKL. We will hold the majority stake in the company. And we are sure of getting the participation of a non-resident Indian or a prominent domestic hotel chain in the project."

Golf links are helping Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia to mint money. The sources say the Kochi project will also be able to attract a large numbers of players who visit other South East Asian countries.

"We are going in for a major link that includes a golf academy with night light facilities. There will also be a country club," says a CPT official.

But CPT is more interested in realising the project as part of Vallarpadom Terminal. "It will make lots of sense to moot the golf link in the green belt of the transhipment project than executing it as an independent project on an island that doesnt have any other attraction," says the official.