Media reports indicate that the government would publish the final draft guidelines on tariff setting by ports in the country after it receives the clearance from Shipping Minister GK Vasan.
The final draft guidelines allows the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) to notify first a port-wise reference rate for various commodities.
TAMP will set the reference tariff that will typically be the highest prevailing rate set on the basis of guidelines framed in 2008 for handling a particular commodity in a port.
For five years, the reference tariff so set will be applicable and it would be indexed to inflation to the extent of 60 percent of the variation in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), a measure of costs.
On the basis of the reference tariff, cargo handling projects will be bid out. And the entity willing to share the most from its annual revenues with the government-owned port wins the cargo contract.
The final draft guidelines also provides that at the time of starting commercial operations of their cargo terminals, private firms and government-owned ports would be free to set tariffs for the services that may be higher or lower than the reference tariff.
The shipping ministry may seek an opinion from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the countryÂ’s antitrust watchdog, to decide on complaints and objections raised by port users on market-linked rates set by cargo handlers in a free pricing regime that is due to take effect on July 1.
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