Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 23 (IANS): Kerala's much-delayed flagship project, the Vizhinjam Port finally appears to be nearing completion as state Ports Minister Ahamed Devarkovil on Saturday said the first ship will berth in March 2023.

"While the first ship will berth in March 2023, the first phase of the port will be commissioned in September 2023," he said.

The port is built by Adani Ports and at the time of commencement of work on the port on December 5, 2015, group chief Gautam Adani had announced then that the first ship will berth there on September 1, 2018, in a record time of less than 1,000 days.

The port project was inked when the Congress-led UDF government under Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was in power.

The project got stalled in 2017 after Cyclone Ockhi hit the construction site and a portion of the constructed breakwater was washed away and since then the shortage of limestone, the most important raw material for the project caused yet another delay.

The total cost of the port project is Rs 7,525 crore and the state government has contributed 500 acres of land.

According to the plan, once completed, this would be one of India's deepest ports and 80 per cent of the country's cargo trans-shipments will go through here.

Adani Ports, which was the lone bidder for the project, had sought a Rs 1,635 crore grant for the construction purposes.

According to the agreement, Adani will operate the port for 40 years, extendable by 20 more years, while the state government will get a portion of the revenue from the port after 15 years.