The Union Shipping Ministry has quickened the award of Public Private Partnership Projects (PPP) after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set high targets for the port sector earlier this year – till October, the Ministry awarded nine projects, out of which four were PPP projects.Last year, it could only award three out of the targeted 23 projects. However, one out of these was the ambitious INR 8,000-crore fourth container terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which will soon be up for re-bid. The project alone made up for more than half of last year’s achievements.
The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure had in September approved a proposal to give enhanced financial powers to the Shipping Ministry for awarding port projects that cost less than INR 500 crore. “The Cabinet decision has removed a major roadblock and has proven helpful in speeding up the process for awarding projects. We are closely monitoring the progress in this matter,” said Shipping Secretary P K Sinha.
Earlier, for instance, all projects up to INR 250 crore had to be approved at three stages – first by the Standing Finance Committee, second by the Committee of Economic Affairs and Shipping Secretary and then by the Shipping Minister and the Finance Minister. For projects above INR 300 crore, a Cabinet note had to be prepared. For all projects that fell in between (INR 250 crore and INR 300 crore), a PPP appraisal committee had to look into them.
For 2012-13, the Shipping Ministry aims at awarding 42 projects, of which 29 are through the PPP route. The target given by the Prime Minister to Shipping Ministry for 2012-13 involves a total investment of INR 35,000 crore and a capacity addition of 244 million tonne. Interestingly, the Shipping Ministry is making all its efforts count this year.
Hence, the non-PPP projects such as mobile harbour cranes project at Mormugao Port with a 0.25 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) capacity is also one of the nine projects awarded thus far.
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