Despite the assurance by the ministry of shipping for settling the issue of providing productivity-based incentives to the striking Chennai Port container terminal workers, officials admit that any decision on the issue would best be taken after the transition of control of the facility to P&O Ports (Australia).
"As the management of the terminal is scheduled to be passed on to the hand of P&O Ports, which had bagged the mandate to develop and operate the terminal on a BOT basis for a concession period spanning 30 years, a decision on any such issue should ideally be taken by the new operator," a senior official in the ministry of shipping said.
Despite P&O Ports winning the right to operate the terminal after a process of competitive bidding, the transition has not taken place as the labour unions in Chennai had gone to court on the issue of transfer of ownership of the terminal in favour of the private player. With the court giving a verdict in favour of the operator, P&O is expected to take over the terminal soon.
The latest agitation by the workers on the issue of granting of productivity-based incentives had been quelled last week following a written assurance by the ministry of shipping that the matter would be settled over a period of 10 working days. Even though workers have returned to their jobs, normalcy is expected to be restored over a month's time.
Officials expect losses on account of port handling charges during the strike to be around 40-50 lakh, with loss of trade accounting for a daily loss of Rs 4 crore.
P&O Ports anticipates investing $100 million in the first five years of the concession in an attempt to promote Chennai as India's leading east coast box port.
