Shipmin seeks comments on proposed legislation for major ports

To ensure more autonomy for major ports and augment their infrastructure, government has invited comments from stakeholders on its proposed Major Port Authorities Act, 2016.
The bill seeks to replace the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963.
The legislation aims to give more autonomy and flexibility to the major ports in the country to promote port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce.
Under the proposed legislation, composition of port board has been simplified and now it will consist of 10 members, including 3 to 4 independent members instead of 17-19 under the present port trust model. Provisions have also been made to include government and labour nominee members.

The bill proposes to remove the regulation on tariff by TAMP (Tariff Authority for Major Ports) and PPP (public private partnership) operators in future will be free to fix tariff based on market conditions and notify the port authority.
The board of the port authority has been delegated the power to fix the scale of rates for other port services and assets like land.

The proposed act empowers port authorities to lease land for port-related use for up to 40 years and for non-port use for up to 20 years, beyond which the approval of the central government will be required.

Besides, the board of the port authority has been empowered to raise loans and issue security for the purpose of capital expenditure and working capital requirement.
At present, the boards need to take permission from the government to undertake all such works. I
The proposed law also makes it mandatory to create an independent review board to carry out the residual functions of the erstwhile TAMP for Major Ports, look into disputes between ports and PPP concessionaires, review stressed PPP projects and suggest measures to revive such projects and look into complaints regarding services rendered by the ports/private operators.