'Thanks to Oommen Chandy who dedicated his heart and soul to Vizhinjam project, will begin construction work of second phase once we obtain environmental clearance'; Karan Adani

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Adani Ports and Economic Zone CEO Karan Adani on Friday thanked all political leaders who worked hard to make the Vizhinjam port a reality. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the trial run of the port, Karan thanked former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for "dedicating his heart and soul to the port."

"The Adani Group has kept its word. We would like to thank all leaders who united for the port keeping political differences aside. We will begin the construction work of the second phase once we obtain the environmental clearance. I would also like to thank former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who dedicated his heart and soul to the port. We appreciate the help of Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in seeing this project through to completion," Karan said.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the trial run of the Vizhinjam port and officially welcomed San Fernando, the first cargo ship docked at the port. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal was the chief guest at the event held this morning. Ministers VN Vasavan, V Sivankutty, K Rajan, KN Balagopal, Saji Cheriyan, GR Anil, MPs Shashi Tharoor, AA Rahim, M Vincent MLA, Mayor Arya Rajendran, Director General of Shipping Shyam Jagannathan, Adani Group Managing Director Karan Adani, Pradeep Jayaraman, VISL MD Divya S. Iyer also participated in the function.