The Union Shipping Ministry has cleared 20 port projects involving an investment of Rs 6,000 crore, envisaging 102 million tonnes (MT) in capacity in the first nine months of the fiscal.

“We have already awarded 20 projects which have a capacity of a little over 100 MT as against the target of 30 projects which will boost the capacity by 250 MT,” Union Shipping Secretary Vishwapati Trivedi told an industry event here today.

He said the projects involved an investment of Rs 6,000 crore.

He hinted that the Ministry may not reach its target, but sounded confident of reaching the 200 MT-mark on new capacity addition contracts, with JNPT’s fourth container port being the biggest project.

On the much-delayed fourth terminal of the largest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) – which will require an investment of Rs 6,700 crore and push up capacity by 64 MT, Trivedi said the same will be awarded before March.

Big names such as Adani, PSA, ABG Shipyard and Dubai Port World are vying to bag the project. Trivedi said the bids, submitted last year, will be opened next month.

The ministry has been setting aggressive targets for capacity expansion every fiscal, with an eye on the targets set in the maritime agenda, under which certain targeted capacity needs to be created by 2020.

While the industry has been complaining about delays on the security clearances front, Trivedi said the government has put in place a “hard line” of getting the security clearance for a port in three months.

He said it took time as nods have to come from ministries of Defence, External Affairs and Home.

There are reasons why the government may appear to be slow, Trivedi said, pointing to other concerns like the oversight of various vigilance bodies.

On the question of corporatisation of state-run ports, the Secretary said he did not favour the idea of instant change but preferred “gradual corporatisation.”

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