Gujarat plans ports tariff authority

The Gujarat government is planning to set up the country's first tariff authority for 40 minor and intermediate ports on its coastline, a move that will result in the fixation of ceiling prices for every service rendered by the ports.

This is the first such instance of a state government doing this. The country's 12 major ports have a separate tariff authority.

According to sources, the Gujarat government has discussed the plan of setting up a tariff authority for minor ports with the shipping ministry.

The state had already set up a committee to formulate a draft plan for setting up such a tariff authority in the state, sources said.

"We have heard about the Gujarat government's plans to set up a tariff authority for minor ports in the country. The state government, however, does not have to seek any kind of clearance from the ministry to set up such an authority. It is entirely up to the state government to decide on the structure of the tariff authority they plan to set up," a senior official in the ministry told Business Standard.

Gujarat has been a leading light for the country as far as initiatives in the port sector are concerned. It has the maximum number of minor ports in the country.

After setting up the Gujarat Maritime Board about a couple of decades ago, it has experimented with all sorts of funding mixes to develop the 40 minor and intermediate ports situated in the state which has the largest coastline in the country.

Many of the minor ports such as Sika Port outshine even the major ports in terms of traffic. The minor ports in Gujarat account for more than 70 per cent of the tonnage handled by all the minor ports in the country.

"Since Gujarat has so many minor ports as compared to other states, such a regulatory body may help the state government make all the ports in the state uniformly attractive in terms of rates," another official said.