Gandhidham Chamber of Commerce and Industry has decided to vigorously pursue matters pertaining to the development of the Kandla port.
Gandhidham Chamber of Commerce and Industry has decided to vigorously pursue matters pertaining to the development of the Kandla port and other issues related to port area with Kandla Port Trust authorities and the Union ministry of shipping.
"Our top priority is development of Kandla port. In the past few years, its development has come to a standstill because all key projects awaited nod from the Union shipping ministry. In sharp contrast, Mundra port, a private sector project in the neighbourhood, has seen rapid progress. Kandla port provides bread and butter for the residents of Kandla, Gandhidham and Adipur; hence, we cannot remain a mute spectator to its stagnation," Hiralal Parekh and Mahesh Tirthani, newly-elected president and honorary general secretary of the chamber, told DNA.
Tirthani said a high-level delegation of the chamber would soon visit Delhi to meet the new shipping minister and shipping secretary to urge them to ensure development of the Kandla port. "If the talks do not bear fruit, we will give a call to the trade and industry as also people to boycott the port," he said
The duo said that Kandla was the most congested major port in the country and needed more berths for handling of export-import cargo. "The port trust had sent a detailed proposal for four more dry cargo berths to the ministry about a decade back. Though it is said to have been cleared now, we do not know when the four berths would become operational.
Contrary to this, Mundra port has two world-class container terminals, as many dry cargo berths as Kandla, single-point mooring to handle very large crude carriers, huge developed back-up area, and a fast coming up port-based SEZ.
Mundra has its own private railway line and even an airport," the two said. With its hands tied for lack of facilities, Kandla port, the country's first major port to come up after independence, cannot compete with Mundra port.
Tirthani said in the case of township land in Gandhidham, which belonged to the port trust and had been given to residents, trade and industries on lease, the port trust was collecting two kinds of charges.
"A person desirous to construct a house on the leased land has to shell out a mortgage fee of one per cent of the loan required to build the house to obtain NOC from KPT. Last year, this amount was reduced to a flat charge of Rs7,500, which was liked by everyone. But the one percent rule has been reimposed. For a Rs20 lakh loan, the fee works out to 20,000," he said.
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