India must upgrade and increase its port capacity three-fold to sustain its present high rate of growth, said Minister of Shipping Shri Wasan, IFW reports.
He told delegates at the recent India Public Private Partnership Conclave in New Delhi that this year India’s major ports recorded utilisation rates of 90%, with some seeing 100% capacity utilisation.
The Shipping Ministry has predicted that traffic at major ports will increase from the current 560 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes by 2019-20, while traffic at the smaller ports is expected to grow from 290 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes.
He anticipates that overall traffic at all Indian ports will record an annual growth rate of 11.3%.
To meet this traffic growth, ports have formulated plans for developing new terminals, upgrading berths and modernising operations with new equipment.
Wasan said:?“Considering an objective of 70% capacity utilisation, it is necessary to increase the overall capacity of Indian ports to 3.23 billion tonnes by 2020, which is more than three times the present level of 963 million tonnes,” said Wasan.
Upgrading India’s ports will require large scale investment and the introduction of newer technologies, which Wasan said was not possible without involving the private sector as active partners.
Terminals set up through public-private partnerships (PPPs) have recorded performance levels that surpass some of the best ports in the world, he said.
PPPs are strongly encouraged in India and, among other incentives, the Shipping Ministry allows PPP projects to be 100% exempt from income tax for 10 years.
As a result, 24 PPP projects costing Rs 64 billion (US$1.4 billion) have been completed.
In the past 18 months, 19 new PPP projects have been given the green light. They include international container terminals at JNPT, an transhipment terminal at Vallarpadam and mega-container terminals at Chennai and Ennore.
He told delegates at the recent India Public Private Partnership Conclave in New Delhi that this year India’s major ports recorded utilisation rates of 90%, with some seeing 100% capacity utilisation.
The Shipping Ministry has predicted that traffic at major ports will increase from the current 560 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes by 2019-20, while traffic at the smaller ports is expected to grow from 290 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes.
He anticipates that overall traffic at all Indian ports will record an annual growth rate of 11.3%.
To meet this traffic growth, ports have formulated plans for developing new terminals, upgrading berths and modernising operations with new equipment.
Wasan said:?“Considering an objective of 70% capacity utilisation, it is necessary to increase the overall capacity of Indian ports to 3.23 billion tonnes by 2020, which is more than three times the present level of 963 million tonnes,” said Wasan.
Upgrading India’s ports will require large scale investment and the introduction of newer technologies, which Wasan said was not possible without involving the private sector as active partners.
Terminals set up through public-private partnerships (PPPs) have recorded performance levels that surpass some of the best ports in the world, he said.
PPPs are strongly encouraged in India and, among other incentives, the Shipping Ministry allows PPP projects to be 100% exempt from income tax for 10 years.
As a result, 24 PPP projects costing Rs 64 billion (US$1.4 billion) have been completed.
In the past 18 months, 19 new PPP projects have been given the green light. They include international container terminals at JNPT, an transhipment terminal at Vallarpadam and mega-container terminals at Chennai and Ennore.