Indian ports get a facelift

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Jul 2009

To give a push to the much-needed infrastructure expansion at the 12 major ports, which handle about 75 percent of the country's maritime cargo, the ministry of shipping has identified 21 expansion projects on public-private partnership (PPP) basis at a total investment of around US$3.3 billion, the Financial Express India reported.
These projects are scheduled to be awarded in phases by March next year and would help in the much-needed capacity expansion of the ports.
The proposed expansion will reduce sea freight of iron ore and would make Indian iron ore exports more competitive in the global markets. This will also boost industrial activities in the hinterland of the ports.
Sharing the government's plans, Rakesh Srivastava, joint secretary (Ports), ministry of shipping, says the capacity augmentation projects will involve mechanisation of the berths, construction of new berths, development of bunkering terminals and cruise terminals.  "Out of the new projects that have been identified, the bidding process of 16 projects is currently underway and requests for qualification have been issued. These projects will be awarded by the end of this fiscal. Going forward, we are also in the process of identifying another 10 projects to be developed during 2010-11," he said.

Source: CargonewsAsia