Ports set to get major facelift

The ports sector is set to receive a face-lift with two new major and 50 more minor ports dotting the 7,517 kilometre-long Indian coastline, forming the 'Sagar Mala'.

The new ports, with a proposed investment of Rs 15,000 crore, will be built where natural draft of 6-8 metres is available and the distance between two ports will not exceed 75 kilometres.

The shipping ministry has also set a target of maintaining aggregate capacity in the 12 major ports, in excess of at least 30 per cent over the projected traffic.

The capacity at each port will be at least 20 per cent above the projected traffic. The aggregate capacity of the 12 major ports, at 362.75 million tonnes, was 16 per cent more than the registered traffic of 313.5 million tonnes in the current financial year.

According to shipping ministry sources, a National Sea Waterways Development Programme will be put in place to support capital dredging to ports handling more than one million tonnes of cargo a year.

This policy would mainly benefit the non-major ports except for Cochin and Kolkata. Capital dredging was not required for any other major port on a regular basis, the sources added.

The sources said 10 of the 185 non-major ports would stand to benefit from this programme as in Kolkata where capital dredging expenditure was already wholly government-funded. The ministry proposes to set aside Rs 2,900 crore for capital dredging.

The policy for single point moorings (SPMs), used for transportation of liquid cargo such as petroleum, will also be put in place soon.

Five new SPMs at the cost of Rs 4,000 crore are also being planned with each SPM entailing an investment of Rs 800 crore.

The ministry also proposes to raise the ceiling on financial assistance to states for feasibility and environmental studies from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. The assistance will be limited to 20 per cent of the cost of the activity.

Expenditure in excess of Rs 50 crore on upgradation and modernisation of the port equipment would be considered infrastructure investment and be entitled to all the attendant benefits, the sources said.

The government has earmarked Rs 958 crore for building two container terminals at Mumbai, Rs 2,000 crore for a container terminal, liquefied natural gas jetty and a coal berth at Ennore, Rs 175 crore for a container terminal at Kandla and Rs 3000 crore for a terminal in Saugor Island in Kolkata.

Cruise terminals would also be set up at five ports including Mumbai, Cochin and Tuticorin at the cost of Rs 500 crore.

Other policy measures include treating the charges paid by the private port operators to the respective port trusts as deemed exports under the Export Promotion Capital Good Scheme.

This would enable private operators of container or the berth terminals to claim duty concession on import of equipment under the duty drawback scheme.

The management would have a greater autonomy in making investment decisions and lowering of vessel related charges.