Centre plans major port in South

The Ministry of Shipping is planning to set up two more major ports in the country. Of the two ports, one will come up on the East Coast, most likely on the Andhra Pradesh coast, and other one will be on the west coast. The two ports will attract an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore. It may be noted that the country already has 11 major ports, under the ministry.

Earlier, Union Minister of Shipping G K Vasan said that the government has requested all coastal states in the country to explore the possibility to set up a new major port or a new ship building yard or a composite port-cum-shipbuilding yard in their states and submit a comprehensive proposal to the Ministry of Shipping.

The minister further stated that the proposals have been received from the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. Technical committees have been constituted to identify suitable locations proposed by the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, said the minister. A senior official from the ministry said that in Andhra Pradesh three places have been proposed, including Nellore, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, and a similarly one on West. These ports will have a capacity of 10 million tonnes. Earlier, the minister said, the government is planning to take up expansion of major ports in the country on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Of the 23 public private partnership (PPP) projects with an investment of Rs 16,743.92 crore and a capacity of 231.63 MTPA identified for award in 2011-12, three projects, involving an estimated cost of Rs 7,977.58 crore have been awarded.