The Shipping Ministry on Friday held a consultation meeting
with various stake holders on the policy for “award of waterfront and
associated land to port dependent industries in major ports, an official
statement said.
According to an official release, the policy, approved by
the Union Cabinet earlier this year, is aimed at bringing uniformity and
transparency in the procedure for awarding captive facilities at ports.
“Under the new policy, concession will be granted to
Port Dependent Industries (PDI) for setting up dedicated facilities in major
ports for import and/or export of cargo and their storage before transportation
to their destination, for a period not exceeding 30 years. Extension of
concession period on conditions including under-utilisation of asset as per the
concession agreement may be allowed,” said the statement.
“After a maximum of 30 years of operation, the
waterfront and associated land in a major port will be allotted for
construction of berths, offshore anchorages, transhipment jetties, single point
moorings etc. It will be as per the terms and conditions of the Concession
Agreement (CA) to be entered into between the Port Authority and the PDI concerned.”
The ministry said that the ambit of the policy, aplicable to
all major ports, includes creation of new assets as well as utilisation of
currently un-utilised existing assets such as vacant berths.
The meeting was attended by various stakeholders from
companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Mangalore Refinery
and Petrochemicals Limited, Adani Ports, SEPC Power, NTPC and industry bodies
ASSOCHAM and CII.