India’s port expansion plan likely to miss target
Mumbai: India is likely to miss the target of increasing the capacity of major ports as the government has awarded only one out of 23 proposed projects, according to two senior shipping ministry officials.
The government had identified 23 port projects for the current fiscal year to increase the capacity of ports in India by 236.63 million tonnes (mt) a year with an estimated investment of Rs.16,743.92 crore, according to Maritime Agenda 2010-20, a shipping ministry plan for the development of the maritime sector. The country’s major ports play a key role in facilitating external trade, which accounts for 40% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The delays will cost the Indian economy a significant chunk of GDP growth that could have been otherwise realized, according to Manish Saigal, executive director and head (transportation and logistics) at consulting firm KPMG.
Saigal said the actual spending in the 11th Five-year Plan was less than half the original projection. For instance, under the National Maritime Development Programme formulated for 2005-12, about 276 projects were proposed till 2012, while the number of projects completed till FY10 were just 50. Mint’s P.R. Sanjai says India will probably fall short of its own targets for expanding capacity at ports, thanks largely to security issues
“We are likely to miss the port capacity target for this year as many of the projects are stuck because of security clearances. We are expecting a couple of security clearances in the week, but we will still fall short of awarding projects this fiscal,” said a senior shipping ministry official. Two projects in V.O. Chidambaranar Port (formerly Tuticorin Port) and one in Visakhapatnam Port Trust are likely to get clearance shortly, he said. Union shipping minister G.k.vasan said the ministry may not be able to award the projects because of litigation and security clearance. “We have set up committees to speed up security clearances for the projects. I cannot offer comments on the projects mired in litigation. But we expect to award at least 60% of the projects in numbers,” Vasan said. (Livemint)