The government is working out a plan for better management and performance of ports in the country. The crux of the plan centres around rationalising 1.12 lakh work force by 40 per cent, scaling up port infrastructure to handle larger traffic, reducing turnaround time, facilitating private initiative, reducing age of retirement and implementing better land management policies to generate revenues.
"Our target is to have at least 424 metric tonnes (mt) of traffic handling capacity within two years. We are working towards reversing the current trend of ships waiting for berths to one where berths will wait for ships to call on," said R Vasudevan, secretary (shipping), ministry of surface transport.
"The government policy is to encourage growth of minor ports (private ports) to achieve the above target," he said. There were over 130 minor ports, mostly in Gujarat, which are increasingly contributing towards the target.
In this regard, Vasudevan said, denotifying certain port areas have begun. In West Bengal, this would mean that the state government will soon have the mandate to clear the decks for the proposed private port at Kulpi.
Vasudevan was in Haldia on Friday to inaugurate the Rs 43-crore multi-purpose jetty No 4B at HDC which will handle 1.5 mt of cargo per annum.
"The Calcutta Dock System and Haldia Dock Complex (HDC), which handled 31 million tonne of cargo during 1999-2000, is expected to handled around 36 mt cargo during the current year as per the target set by MoST. Of this, HDC alone is expected to handle 25 mt," Vasudevan said.
Responding to a suggestion from Lakshman Seth, member of Parliament from Haldia that Haldia Dock Complex be given the status of an independent port, Vasudevan said, "We are currently studying various models suggested to us. There are broader issues like the interests of Calcutta Port which has to be taken into consideration."
Vasudevan said the maintenance dredging requirements of Calcutta Port is a major task requiring mobilisation of massive resources. "The matter of dredging is a serious one and has been entrusted to a committee, headed by former secretary, S P Bagla." The findings of the committee is expected to be out within a month, he said.
"A major capital dredging and river-related works project at an estimated Rs 325 crore is being considered by the government."
"Once the capital dredging is taken up, the cost of maintenance dredging will come down. We are collecting further data on this based on which the dredging project estimates will be firmed up," the secretary said.
.....Case for better land management by ports
Ports need to adopt better management and commercial use of land, emphasised R Vasudevan, secretary (shipping), ministry of surface transport, on Friday.
Vasudevan said Calcutta Port Trust (CPT), which had around 3326 acre of land, should take initiative to generate revenues through proper use of land. "Land management in Calcutta Dock System (CDS) is a serious concern," he added.
Currently, 1956 acre of CDS land has been rented out and 54 acre pending allotment. CPT is yet to realise Rs 67 crore of rents accruing from lease-outs.
Vasudevan said decision had been taken to streamline land management in CDS. This includes, outright sale of 54 acre instead of allotting it to smaller users. For 1316 acre of land, a study will be undertaken for optimising the use commercially.
Other steps are to deny renewal of leas of land for financial gains and to harden approach to recover outstanding rentals.
Currently, CPT employs around 16,000 workers but the number of pensioners is a whopping 26,000 for whom the annual pay-out is Rs 250 crore.
Vasudevan suggested a pension fund with a corpus of Rs 1500 crore be set up through sale of land assets to address this issue.
