The Kerala government has decided to rope in State Bank of Travancore as leader of a consortium of lenders to raise US$553 million for funding the preliminary work on Vizhinjam's transhipment terminal, reported The Press Trust of India.
The proposal has been approved by the state cabinet.
The SBT is an associate bank of the country's largest lender State Bank of India.
"The cabinet decided that an annual budgetary allocation of $55.3 million would be made to the VISL, the special purpose vehicle, to help with the repayment of the long-term loan with tenure of up to 20 years," it added.
The state cabinet also gave in-principle approval to set up a Special Economic Zone for over 120 hectares currently being acquired and another 110 hectares being reclaimed.
VISL is a special purpose company, fully owned and set up by the Kerala government with a mandate to attract private sector participation for the port's development and to set up the external infrastructure.
The final award of the project is scheduled for February 2011.
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