Ministry Plans Policy For Lng Transportation

The ministry of surface transport is charting out a comprehensive liquefied natural gas transportation policy.

Minister of surface transport (MoST) Rajnath Singh yesterday told Parliamentary Consultative Committee that shipping industry should not be excluded from LNG transportation and shipping firms need to be encouraged to acquire required competence for LNG transportation.

Singh said that the ministry of surface transport had taken several policy initiatives to boost the shipping industry lagged behind in growth as compared to the international standards.

Singh told the committee that MoST was considering the recommendations of the National Shipping Policy Committee that have financial implications and need inter-ministerial consultations.

 

MoST has already implemented 15 recommendations of the Shipping Committee, Singh added.

Singh said that the government was mooting the proposal for introduction of tonnage tax in place of corporate tax as practised in the European countries.

Singh said the government was also considering granting infrastructure status to shipping industry which contributes Rs 3,500 crore annually to the foreign exchange.

The consultative committee was told that the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) was awarded the mini-ratna status which would help the corporation address the problem of low tonnage factor compared to the international cargo market.

Singh said the mini-ratna status would help SCI to acquire ship up to Rs 300 crore without referring to MoST.