JNPT Chairman L. Radhakrishnan has emphasized on the need for Public Private Partnership in dredging at Indian ports to ensure that large vessels can call at Indian ports.Four major ports, two on the West coast (JNPT and Cochin) and two on the East coast (Vishakapatnam and Chennai) are being considered as hub ports with 17 metres draft in the coming years, he said while addressing an open house meeting on Trade Facilitation organized by the All India Association of Industries (AIAI) and MVIRDC, World Trade Centre Mumbai.
According to industry sources, India is losing Rs. 1,600 crores annually to foreign ports as its ports are unable to handle larger ships. Individual ports are not in a position to fund the huge costs involved in dredging and hence the Government will have to fund the capital dredging part, sources said. The need and costs for dredging also rise from the fact that Indian ports suffer from high silting.
Mr. Radhakrishnan further stated that JNPT has embarked on a massive expansion plan to increase its capacity from the present 4 million tons to 10.5 million tons in the next five years. “By 2020, JNPT hopes to achieve a capacity of 20 million tones,” he added.
Highlighting the need for developing India’s coastal shipping having a coastline of 7500 km, he called for moving 2/3rd of the total cargo by minor ports which will also reduce the pressure on hinterland infrastructure. All this needs co-ordinated policy measures at the Central and State Government levels, he opined.
Mr. Yogendra Garg, Commissioner of Customs (Export), and Mr. Amarnath Mishra, Joint Director-General of Foreign Trade, also spoke.
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