As part of the first 100-day 'action programme' of the government, the Shipping Ministry would award projects worth more than Rs 3,300 crore for developing and upgrading container and cargo terminals at various ports in the country.
"We will issue Letter of Award for six projects within the next 100 days for various ports, apart from initiating the process for awarding another 23 projects," a senior official told PTI.
The six projects to be awarded within the next 100 days include development of a container terminal at Ennore, North of Chennai, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,407 crore.
Also included in the plan is the construction of deep draft iron ore berth at Paradip at an estimated cost of Rs 591 crore. It will have another project for construction of deep draft coal berth, estimated to cost Rs 479 crore.
Other projects include conversion of a general cargo terminal into a container terminal at Tuticorin Port (Rs 312 crore), setting up of mechanised iron ore handling facilities at New Mangalore (Rs 277 crore) and development of berth for handling bulk cargo at Goa (Rs 252 crore).
The official said all the six projects have been approved by the Union Cabinet and a host of domestic and international companies, including Gammon Infrastructure, ABG Infralogistics and DP World are competing for them.
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The process of awarding projects is being expedited on the direction of Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, he said.
"Besides, the cabinet secretary has asked the Shipping Ministry to ensure that requests for proposal for the other 23 port projects are invited by the June-end and final awards be given by December," he added.
The 23 projects include the long-pending construction of the fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai, estimated to cost around Rs 6,700 crore.
It also includes the creation of Mega Container Terminal at Chennai with an estimated cost of Rs 3,105 crore.
After taking charge of the Shipping Ministry late last month, G K Vasan had told reporters that he would award six projects for the cargo and container terminals at various ports in the next three months. He had also said the ministry would initiate process of awarding 20 other projects in the same time period.