Target of awarding 30 port projects for FY'14 achieved: Vasan

He said this entail an investment of over Rs 21,000 crore, adding 217 million tonnes in the annual additional capacity

Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan today said his ministry has met the FY'14 target of awarding 30 port projects, which entail an investment of over Rs 21,000 crore, adding 217 million tonnes in the annual additional capacity.

"This is the best achievement in our history and we have already met the target for 2013-14," Vasan told reporters on the sidelines of an event to formally award two container project contracts to private parties at the country's largest container port JNPT (Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust).

Hurrying through before the model code of conduct sets in, Vasan said the target has been achieved with almost a full month to go on the back of changes in policies.

He also touched upon the achievements of his ministry, saying during the past four years, it has awarded 88 new projects requiring an investment of Rs 42,953 crore and adding 558 MT in additional capacity.

The most important decision have been deregulating tariffs for new projects by disbanding the Tarriff Authority of Major Ports (Tamp), setting a strict timeline for getting security and green clearances for projects and a new land policy, Vasan said.

It can be noted that the ministry had been repeatedly missing its targets in the past. The government has set itself stiff targets as part of the maritime agenda which needs to be implemented by 2020.

With the overall target in mind, the government has been working on yearly targets. Last fiscal, only 27 of the target of 42 projects were bid out to private sector entities for construction, which entailed an investment of Rs 6,303 crore and adding 114 MT in additional capacity.

These 42 projects entailed an investment of Rs 14,770 crore.

The major projects awarded this fiscal include the Rs 7,900 crore fourth terminal at the JNPT, which was formally awarded to Port of Singapore today, as also the one to extend a berth operated by DP World by 330 metres, which was also announced today. This DP World contract is worth Rs 600 crore.

Apart from these two, there are others like the over Rs 1,200-crore container terminal at the Ennore Port awarded to the Adanis.