P. Manoj

New Delhi , Feb. 18

THE Shipping Ministry has floated a proposal to formulate a Central scheme for extending equity assistance of up to 33.33 per cent subject to a maximum of Rs 100 crore for the development of minor ports that are owned and controlled by the State Governments.

The Ministry has put forward a case for setting aside a sum of Rs 200-300 crore per year as Budgetary support to implement this plan.

"On an average, it is expected that 2-3 projects will be given the assistance every year. The annual requirement for this purpose, at the rate of Rs 100 crore per project, is estimated to be between Rs 200 crore and Rs 300 crore as budgetary support," says the draft National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) to be considered by the Cabinet shortly.

Currently, there are about 185 minor/intermediate ports, which are subject to the overall jurisdiction of the respective maritime State Governments. During 2003-04, the minor ports handled about 113.41 million tonnes of cargo, which translated to about 25 per cent of the total traffic handled at ports.

According to the draft NMDP, financial assistance will be extended by the Central Government for the development of minor ports, including improvement in draft, construction of break waters, providing rail and road connectivity to ports and developing facilities for coastal shipping.

"Efforts will be made to develop at least one minor port on each coast (east and west) through Central Government funding," it said.

Besides, to ensure coordinated development of the entire port sector in the country, the Ministry has mooted the setting up of a Director General of Ports on the lines of the Director General of Shipping to oversee the overall framework of port development and its implementation including major ports controlled by the Central Government, minor ports, private ports/terminals and fishing ports.

"Certain functions of a routine and regulatory nature hitherto performed by the Shipping Ministry will be delegated to the Director General of Ports who will also act as a link between the Central Government and the maritime states and ports," says the draft NMDP.

The Ministry has also proposed to convert the Maritime States Development Council (MSDC) headed by the Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways into a statutory advisory body and expand its membership to include representatives from trade and commerce.

In order to curtail unhealthy competition and to protect the territories of major ports, no new minor port will be carved out of the territory of a major port. Likewise, no minor port or a part thereof will be converted into a major port without the consent of the respective State Government. Criteria will also be prescribed for declaration of minor ports as major ports.

Further, to optimise the use of presently available cargo handling equipments at different ports, the Ministry has decided to permit inter-port transfer of assets including to minor ports as approved by the MSDC.s

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