Oomen Chandy takes lapses to CAG
Mr Chandy explained that the Union government was ready to provide a viability gap fund because there was a report that it would incur losses.
Thiruvananthapuram: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy has written to Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Sasikanth Sarma citing lapses in the report against the Vizhinjam international seaport project deal.
The letter says some points raised in the report were not accurate. It alleges that there has been some external interference of those opposing the project in the CAG report.
Mr Chandy also argued that the explanations given by the government to the query from the CAG for preparing the audit report had not been included in the report.
He pointed out that the CAG was not ready to compare the project report of the previous LDF government led by V. S. Achuthanandan with the present one.
He said the CAG report was repeating the criticism in an article published two years ago in a leading magazine by R. Thulasidharan Pillai, who was an external consultant assigned by the Accountant-General for its audit.
The article has mentioned that the concession period for the project being extended to 40 years instead of 30 will incur massive losses to the state government.
The International Finance Corporation, which was appointed by the state government in 2009 as a consultant on the Vizhinjam transhipment container terminal, had recommended 30 years to finish the project.
Mr Chandy explained that the Union government was ready to provide a viability gap fund because there was a report that it would incur losses. The extra concession period was granted to Adani taking this fact into consideration.
Meanwhile, the CAG on Sunday summoned officials who prepared the report based on a complaint filed by the additional chief secretary in charge of ports James Varghese. He alleges that the report was one-sided.