Centre has proposed to develop all the ports in the country with huge investment to increase the overall capacity of Indian ports, Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan said. Addressing a gathering here yesterday, Mr Vasan said it was necessary to increase the overall capacity of Indian ports to 3230 million tonnes by 2019-20 which was three times the present level of 936 million tonnes. He said an investment of Rs 2.77 lakh crore was required for the modernisation and development of ports on par with international standards to increase the capacity of the ports.
As the government was not able to meet the required funds, it was proposed to promote private partnership in port sector. The government has planned an investment of Rs 2.34 lakh crore from the private sector for the development of the port.
He said the Ministry of Shipping has formulated the maritime agenda 2010-2020, a perspective plan of the government for identifying priority areas and the road map towards developing port sector on par with international standards. He said to attract overseas investors and port operators, 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under the automatic route was permitted for port development projects. Apart from this, 100 percent income tax exemption was also available for a period ten years. Mr Vasan said the port sector in India had a ‘brilliant run’ in the last decade witnessing significant addition in capacity across the Indian coastline and cargo profile. The Ministry of Shipping had been continuously engaged in designing and implementing various projects for development of port sector. UNI