CM urges PM to withdraw VGF repayment norm for Vizhinjam

The efforts taken by the state government in investing substantial amount in a project of national importance, despite its limited financial resources, should be given due consideration Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @T'Puram

IN an effort to get unconditional Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support to the Vizhinjam Seaport project, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his urgent intervention. Pinarayi urged the Prime Minister to withdraw the Union finance ministry's norm making it mandatory for the state to repay the VGF.

In his letter, Pinarayi pointed out that since the Union finance ministry introduced the VGF scheme in 2005, never in the past such a payback has been demanded by the finance ministry under VGF scheme. Vizhinjam project would be the only exception in the country where the Union government has demanded a payback.