The total number of port projects awarded in 2012-13 may raise capacity of the country’s port sector by 114 million tonne (mn t) pa.
The shipping ministry awarded in all 26 projects so far in 2012-13 and out of this 14 are Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects. The 14 PPP projects would bring in an additional capacity of 80 mn t per annum at an investment of Rs 5,600 crore.
Besides this, government awarded a Rs 785 crore project for development of ship repair facility at Cochin Port.
This is in stark contract to last year when the ministry could award only three projects which included the Rs 8,000 crore fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port but the project will be up for re-bid in the next financial year.
Most of the projects awarded this year have spilled over from the last year. Even so, the shipping ministry is lauding itself over the sheer number of projects awarded this year, the meagre capacity enhancement notwithstanding.
The ministry plans to add a capacity of 250 million tonne through public and private investment in 2013-14.
However, the worrying factor is the fall in cargo volume at various ports in the country. During April to February 2013, the total cargo handled at major ports came down by 2.5 percent to 498 million tonne (mn t).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.