NEW DELHI: The shipping ministry is formulating a plan to revive several of the country’s 133 nonfunctional ports as part of a move to encourage traders to use India’s vast 7,500 km coastline for transporting local freight.
The ministry has prepared a concept note for forming special purpose vehicles by Shipping Corporation of India and Dredging CorporationBSE 1.64 % of India with state governments and private operators, said an official privy to the development.
Most of these ports face dredging issues or lack terminal facilities. “This collaboration would be on a revenue share basis,” the official said, adding that the ministry is also looking to hire a private consultancy to study the scope of coastal shipping in India and ways of promoting it. The revenues from the port would be shared among the consortium partners in an agreed upon ratio.
The ministry is looking at developing five coastal ports in the next one year itself as part of the plan. To start with, Rs 30 crore per port would be provided by the government to kick start their development.
The remaining funds are likely to be provided by the state governments in order to provide connectivity to nearby state, national highway or railway station. Further expenditure on the port like maintenance dredging would be undertaken out of the revenues arising from port operations.
