Seventeen minor ports from Valiyathura to Nileshwaram are the charge of one Kerala board

Background

The Kerala Legislature has published the Keralam Maritime Board (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which proposes to restructure the board's powers as part of the government's Mission Samudra push, so the board itself is worth knowing.
The Kerala Maritime Board was constituted under the Kerala Maritime Board Act, 2017 and came into existence in 2018.
It is responsible for the State's 17 minor ports: Valiyathura, Vizhinjam, Kollam, Neendakara, Kayamkulam, Alappuzha, Kodungallur, Ponnani, Beypore, Kozhikode, Vadakara, Thalassery, Kannur, Azhikkal, Kasaragod, Manjeswaram and Nileshwaram.
The government allocated Rs 453.97 crore to the board for the development of minor ports from its formation onwards, a figure obtained through a reply under the Right to Information Act.
Section 90 of the Kerala Maritime Board Act, 2017 is the provision under which the board's administrative committee can be dissolved, and the government invoked it by gazette notification.
The Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed to financial and administrative irregularities including failure to recover revenue arrears, expenditure outside approved budgets and diversion of funds.
At present the board can lease land for a period of up to 30 years; the amending Bill would allow transfer of land for public-private partnership projects and would create a port development authority under the board for each port.
The amendment would also make the Chief Minister the board's chairman, a post until now filled from among serving or retired IAS officers and persons who had been chairperson or managing director of a public sector undertaking.