BRPSE wants revival of inland waterways PSU through joint venture

The Board for Restructuring Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) has proposed revival of Central Inland Water Transport Corporation, a public sector unit dealing with transportation of cargo through inland waterways, through joint venture with a private company based in India or Bangladesh.

“The revival is expected to boost cargo transport between India and Bangladesh, and will bring down the cost of bulk transport by almost half of the existing cost,” said Nitish Sengupta, chairman of the BRPSE, at a press conference here today.

Under a protocol agreement between India and Bangladesh which had validity till October 2001, both the countries had decided to make mutually beneficial arrangements for use of waterways for commerce and maintaining law and order. The two governments agreed to share the inter-country trade and transit cargo on an equal tonnage basis by the vessels of signatory countries. This apart, the BRPSE had initiated a study to revive sick public sector fertiliser companies, said Sengupta.

Also, as a part of the revival of Burn Standard Company Ltd, under of ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises, the Indian Railways has agreed to take over two of its wagon units at Howrah and Burnpur. The Steel Authority of India has also agreed to take over the refractory unit of the company located at Salem.

Meanwhile, BRPSE was also in favour of disinvestment of Hindustan Cables and HMT, as there have been difficulties in reviving them through private participation, said Sengupta.

BRPSE has also recommended enhanced delegation of powers to the Navratna PSEs, and disinvestment of all profit-making PSEs. There are about 240 operating Central public sector enterprises (CPSE), and about 160 of them are running on profit. Since the inception of BRPSE, about 63 CPSEs have been referred to BRPSE. The government has given recommendations for revival of 52 CPSEs so far. Based on the recommendations, the government had agreed to revive 34 CPSEs till December 2008. For this, the total assistance by the government was to the tune of Rs 14,510 crore. In addition, the government has already approved of revival packages for six CPSEs, with a total assistance of Rs 2,905 crore.