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Govt grappling with HDC corporatisation

THE Union Government is grappling with the issue of corporatising the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC). A final decision in this regard has eluded the Government due to difficulties inherent in the task. Haldia is owned by the Calcutta Port Trust. If the Govern ment decides to corporatise Haldia, presumably, the entity that will hold all the shares would be Calcutta Port.

There is nothing wrong with that. But this could lead to a conflict of interest because, as the owner of all the equity, Calcutta Port would want to see that Haldia is doing better and better, so that it can maximise its net worth. On the other hand, as a rival port, Calcutta may also want to see some cargo coming its way as well. Thus, the conflict.

In view of this, the Union Government is looking at the corporatisation of Haldia a little more carefully and from a different perspective than Ennore Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

According to officials, the corporatisation model for Haldia will be different from Ennore and JNPT. While Ennore has been set up as a wholly-owned government company initially, but with the provision to induct a strategic partner later through the proce ss of disinvestment, JNPT is also being corporatised by the same route.

The Union Government had initially floated the idea of a joint venture format to corporatise Haldia. The idea was to hive Haldia off into a separate company with equity participation from Calcutta port and a private company. But this plan was shelved due to opposition from Calcutta Port, which is against letting go off its profit-making arm.

Realising this stand of the Port, the Ministry of Shipping has stated that Calcutta's interest and welfare will be taken care of while corporatising the dock complex.

Another issue facing the Government is the technical aspect relating to corporatisation of the major ports. The major ports selected for corporatisation will have to be first de-notified from the ambit of the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 before being conv erted into corporate entities. This would require an enabling provision in the MPT Act, and the Government is working on this.

But, being a dock complex of Calcutta Port, the Union Government just cannot de-notify Haldia from Calcutta and privatise it.

The complexities involved in corporatising Haldia are being discussed and debated in the Shipping Ministry. Once finalised, the corporatisation model for Haldia will be submitted to the Union Cabinet for approval. -- Our Bureau