Government set to unveil maritime perspective plan 2020

The union shipping ministry is likely to come out with the maritime perspective plan 2020 by this month end envisaging investments to the tune of Rs40,000 crore in infrastructure facelift at the major ports in the country.

The plan is also likey to lay guidelines for corporatisation of the port trusts in the country.
The major ports, 12 in number, are under the direct control of the central government. In addition, there are about 200 ports — governed by state maritime boards  — on the 7,500km coastline of the country. According to the shipping ministry, more ports may be brought under centre’s ambit, and the 2020 plan will lay guidelines for that.

Going forward, the ministry is looking forward to a three-fold jump in port traffic as well as capacity in the next 10 years.

Elaborating on the matter, a shipping ministry official said, “In terms of port traffic, we are looking at 2,500 million metric tonnes (mt) compared with 850 million mt at present. On the capacity front, we are looking at at least 3,200 million mt. We hope to touch the 1 billion mt mark in the current financial year.”

“The perspective plan will essentially set the agenda for decision making in the maritime sector involving both policy decisions as well as projects. Needless to say that the plan will be reviewed from time to time and scaled up depending on need,” said the official.

The move will open a window of public-private partnership opportunities. “We are looking forward to investments between Rs30,000 crore and Rs40,000 crore. Most part will have to come from the private sector. The government’s role will be limited only to creation of basic and common use infrastructure,” the official said.

The port projects that will be included in the perspective plan will also include the spillovers from the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP), which is ending in 2012.

But going by the NMDP experience, the government also needs to put its act together and create an enabling environment for the private sector. Under the NMDP, the target of awarding 21 PPP expansion projects at major ports this fiscal are lagging behind due to delay in security clearances, as well as legal hurdles.

The 21 expansion projects at the major ports required an investment of Rs14,000 crore. Till date, however, the ministry has been able to award only two PPP expansion projects at Tuticorin Port and Ennore Port worth Rs1,100 crore, registering less than 10% of the target for the fiscal.