Ports fall short in spending

The port sector's track record in expenditure management raises doubts on its ability to pull off the ambitious modernisation plan it has envisaged for the next 10 years.

In the past three years, the 12 major ports have barely managed to spend even 50 per cent of the total annual outlay.

In fact, till October, the major ports have spent only 17.68 per cent of the total approved outlay of Rs 763. 89 crore for 2003-04.

The performance of the minor ports has not been encouraging either, with the entire Rs 1.53 crore set aside for them this year remaining unspent till October, 2003.

Under the Sagar Mala project, Rs 55,000 crore has been earmarked for the ports. Under the Tenth Five Year plan too, an outlay of Rs 5,513 crore has been fixed.

Tardiness on the part of the government in granting approvals to projects was the main reason why the planned expenditure had failed to materialise, a port official said.

Delegation of powers to the port authorities could help in speeding up clearances, the official said.

For instance, even though port trusts are authorised to approve projects related to replacement of equipment with costs of up to Rs 100 crore and new procurement worth Rs 50 crore and less, they still have to inform the ministry before taking any decision.

The official said this was as good as taking the ministry's approval.

Moreover, at the local level, the contractors also created delays while finalising documents. This resulted in the disrupting of a whole chain of activities, the official said.

During the Ninth Plan period (1996-2001), as many as 15 projects that would create a capacity of 36 million tonnes were identified but not taken up eventually.

In the first year of the Tenth Plan i.e. 2002-03, only 51 per cent of the approved outlay of Rs 901.12 crore was spent.

In thd first seven months of this fiscal, both Jawahar Lal Nehru Port and Calcutta Port did not spend even one per cent of the approved outlay.

Tuticorin Port Trust, on the other hand, already overshot its planned expenditure for the year.