Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the BJP-led NDA Government planned to double the ports’ capacity from the current 800 million metric tonnes (mmts) to 1600 mmts over the next five years. Speaking at a review meeting of major ports in the country, Gadkari laid emphasis on improving operational efficiency and expanding port capacity.
At the meeting where chairpersons of all the 12 major ports appraised the Minister about the progress of their various ongoing development projects, Gadkari said that the Government had placed a greater thrust on infrastructure development and was keen on giving a serious push to water transport.
“Ports and roads play a key role and country’s GDP can be boosted by 2 per cent if these key infrastructure sectors are developed to their potential” he added. “Required policy measures to create level playing fields for the major ports, including review of TAMP (Tariff Authority for Major Ports) would be taken to remove bottlenecks and facilitate growth”, Gadkari said.
On the emphasis for improving operational efficiency, Gadkari said: “The turnaround time in Indian ports, does not compare favourably with international benchmark. While it is only 0.6 days in Singapore, it takes considerably more time in India, which has affected the international image of our ports”.
“The RO-RO (Roll-on, Roll-of) service could be an additional measure to decongest port traffic. Our government favours forming Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with ports participation to implement port connectivity railway projects,” the Minister said.
Underscoring the need to improve port connectivity, Gadkari said that rail connectivity options should be explored to avoid traffic congestion around port areas.Mr Gadkari asked the Port heads to speed up decision making process by exercising powers vested with them under the Port Trust Act.