Indian PMO to Enhance Port Sector

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will chart a road map to ensure the implementation of existing projects and enhance investments in the port sector in order to hasten projects in the infrastructure sector.

Pulok Chatterji, principal secretary to the prime minister, will meet the senior officials of the ministries of shipping and finance to review public-private partnership (PPP) port projects and dredging projects at various ports.

The ministry plans to award 23 projects by March. Among the projects they plan to award this year are six riverine jetties with a capacity of 4.5 million tones, at a cost of Rs 300 crore, according to Business Standard.

The conversion of berth eight into a container terminal at Tuticorin and an oil jetty at Haldia in the Kolkata Port Trust are among the projects awaiting security clearances.

Rs 3 lakh crore is planned to be invested in the country ports in order to increase the capacity to three billion tones by 2020.

After dealing with issues of power sector companies, the PMO will now turn to the problems of other sectors: “Highways and ports have been identified as a prime focus area,” according to an official.

[mappress]

Dredging Today Staff, April 9, 2012;