Cabinet approves Major Port Trust Authorities Bill, 2016

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approves the proposal of Ministry of Shipping to replace the Major Port Trusts Act of 1963 by the Major Port Authorities Bill of 2016.

This Bill will empower the Major Ports to perform with greater efficiency on account of full autonomy in decision making and by modernising the Institutional structure of Major Ports.

With a view to promote the expansion of port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce, the proposed bill aims at decentralizing decision making and to infuse professionalism in governance of ports.

The new Major Ports Authority Bill, 2016 would help to impart faster and transparent decision making benefiting the stakeholders and better project execution capability. The Bill is aimed at reorienting the governance model in central Ports to landlord port model in line with the successful global practice. This will also help in bringing transparency in operations of Major Ports.

The new introduced bill is more compact as compared to the earlier one. It is a simplified composition of the Board of Port Authority which will comprise of 11 members from the present 17 to 19 Members representing various interests.

The role of Tariff Authority for Major Ports [TAMP] has also been redefined and an independent Review Board has been proposed to be created to carry out the residual function of the erstwhile TAMP for Major Ports, to look into disputes between ports and PPP concessionaires.

The Boards of the Port Authority have been delegated full powers to enter into contracts, planning and development, fixing of tariff except in national interest, security and emergency arising out of inaction and default.