International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will work with the Kerala Government to develop a greenfield port that will create jobs while addressing the state's trade and transportation capacity needs.

The proposed port, to be located at Vizhinjam near the state's capital of Thiruvananthapuram, is expected to become a national hub for container traffic.

"Private investors with relevant experience in other parts of the world will bring immense efficiencies to building a port in Kerala," Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited's chief executive officer, Sanjeev Kaushik, said.

He is also the secretary of Kerala's Ports Department.

Developing this deep water port will build on the natural advantages of the proposed site and its proximity to international shipping routes, providing access to larger ships.

IFC will act as a principal advisor to Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited to structure, market, and implement the project to attract serious investors through an open, transparent and competitive bidding process.  This will help bring  international managerial capabilities and best practices and safeguard the interests of all stakeholders, a Seaport Limited press release issued here said.

"Improved infrastructure will lead to stronger economic growth in India. We are partnering with Kerala to increase capacity of its ports to enable more trade and create jobs," IFC's executive vice-president and CEO, Lars Thunell, said in the release.

IFC's experience in helping state-owned enterprises build and upgrade port facilities includes public-private partnership projects in the port sector in Benin, Brazil, Madagascar and Mauritius.

This initiative is led by IFC Advisory Services in Infrastructure which has worked on more than 250 projects in 80 countries.