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There's no two ways about it; India needs better port infrastructure. A beginning has been made on this front-more than Rs 55,000 crore is expected to be pumped into the sector. There are other problems as well: the growth contribution of the western ports is more than 68 per cent compared to 9 per cent in the case of the eastern ports. The sector now has the opportunity of putting its ship in order, correcting regional imbalances and starting afresh on an even keel. Indian Ports are the gateways to India's international trade by sea and are handling over 90 per cent of foreign trade. The 6,000 km long Indian coastline has 12 major ports and 181 minor/intermediate ports, out of which 139 are operable. The 12 major Indian ports, which are managed by the Port Trust of India under Central government jurisdiction, handle 90 per cent of the all-India port throughput, and thus bear the brunt of sea borne trade. The 139 minor ports are under the jurisdiction of state governments. Though sea routes carry the bulk of Indian trade, the existing port infrastructure is insufficient to handle trade flows effectively. The current capacity at major ports is overstretched. The situation of limited capacity and high demand has inevitably resulted in port congestion. This results in overstretched berths leading to pre-berthing delays and longer ship turnaround time. In recent years, major investments in port construction have centred on container as well as bulk facilities. Modern equipment exists for container and bulk handling. The equipment- mix for handling general cargo has to be planned and provided in a manner that suits the needs of each port. Now the Indian government is looking at achieving a capacity of 20 million twenty feet equivalent units (TEUs) of containers within a 10-year time frame, channel deepening is likely to be an important aspect of the expansion plan. At present, India's port capacity is a meagre 4.61 million TEUs compared with China's capacity of 50 million TEUs, almost 11 times that of India's. The government's action plan to achieve this increase is based on effective cooperation with state governments to develop new ports and expanding the capacities of the existing ones. Meanwhile, the performance of Indian ports does not compare favourably with that of efficient international ports. On three important parameters - capacity, productivity and efficiency, Indian ports lack in comparison to some of the major international ports. In international terms, labour and equipment productivity levels are still very low due to the outdated equipment, poor training, low equipment handling levels by labour, uneconomic labour practices, idle time at berth, time loss at shift change and high mining scales. In keeping with general policy of liberalisation and globalisation of economy of the government of India, the port sector has been thrown open to private sector participation. There is no legal bar to private sector participation in port facilities as per the provisions of the existing Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. In order to handle the increase in the sea-borne traffic on account of increase in foreign and coastal trade, major expansion is required in the port infrastructure sector in the country and this will need mobilisation of substantial resources. Hence, the opening up of the port sector for privatisation. It is expected that privatisation would also improve the efficiency, productivity and quality of services and also bring competitiveness in port services. It is also expected that the private sector participation would help bring in latest technology and improved management techniques. It is felt necessary to encourage the private sector participation in enhancing port capabilities and also in modernisation of port equipment.
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