In order to ensure coastal security, the home ministry of Maharashtra government is reportedly planning to adopt risk-proofing in public private partnership (PPP) contracts for the development of these minor ports.
According to the government plan, certain risk-proof clauses could be included in the PPP agreement on the lines of similar clauses in defence contracts to “ensure accountability” of the concessioners and the various stakeholders and to plug any loopholes.
Inclusion of these clauses in the agreement enables efficient and cautious management in PPP in the interest of coastal security.
Although the existing contracts have security clauses, the state government feels the need to strengthen them. Some reports suggest that the state government discussed the issue in a meeting with union home ministry officials recently.
Maharashtra has a 720-km-long coastline and two major ports — the Mumbai Port Trust and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
It may be recalled that in order to develop six minor ports on the Konkan coastline, the state government inked concession agreements. Maharashtra also has captive jetties apart from intermediate and non-major ports.
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