Union minister for shipping Vedprakash Goyal has said the centre would undertake a study and prepare a perspective plan for development of non-major ports to facilitate coastal movement of cargo. This will reduce handling costs and generate local employment.
The Planning Commission would be approached for providing central assistance for development of port facilities for coastal shipping, regional studies and preparation of perspective plan during the Tenth Plan period, he said while briefing the press after the fourth meeting of the Maritime States Development Council at Panaji.
At the meeting, Goyal called upon port managements to become aggressive marketers and to not just restrict themselves as facilitators of services. "We should go in search of customers and not the other way round," he said.
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The ministry of environment and forest would be requested to consider delegation of powers to clear projects from the environmental angle in respect of non-major and major ports to state governments and the ministry of shipping, respectively, he said.
On the corporatisation of major ports, the minister said a Bill has been introduced in Parliament and hoped that it would be passed soon for removing the legal bottlenecks in the way of corporatisation.