'The overall picture at national level is in line with NMDP’

Jun 09, 2008, 05.20 AM IST

Captain PVK Mohan, CMD of Seaways group, is known to wear many hats. Recently elected president of Force (Freight Organisation of Related Cargo Experts), this senior-most member of National Shipping Board was lately seen visiting ports as chairman of a committee on Major Ports. ETSL paces up to him to have an update of what is happening in Indian maritime today.

What is the objective of the newly constituted committee on Major Ports under your chairmanship? What's its status?

The objective is to go deep, to understand both the long and short term requirements of ports. We have finished Chennai, Ennore and JNPT.

We are focusing mainly on Chennai and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) because they are the important ones. Others like Mangalore, Goa or Paradip are of developmental programmes.

Govt plans to set up new berths by reclaiming land from the sea on a number of major ports? Could you detail it?

All those ports which have 100% capacity utilization, need to have more berths. In ports where land is an issue like in Chennai, Vizag or JNPT for that matter, you cannot increase berths unless you reclaim land. The ministry is examining the possibility of using reclamation.

Lot of projects are pending at JNPT to which now you have talked about reclamation. Do you expect some progress in dredging?

Definitely, the ministry is seized of this matter. You must also understand another aspect: the cost which is linked to it. For example, in Cochin the cost of the dredging project was Rs 405 crore and the bid received was for Rs 800 crore. This is an area of concern. With limited dredging capacity in this country, we are exposed to high cost of bids.

Is the ministry planning any alternative programme to attend to this issue?

As you know, the dredging consortium is also formed. It will be an Indian consortium, with two ports and Shipping Corporation as partners, which will be able to quickly mobilize resources and move ahead. The consortium can also go for capital expenditure. Dredging Corporation is looking at expansion. We are happy that private companies are also entering dredging.

Govt is mooting state maritime boards. How it plans to go ahead?

What we are doing from the centre is to encourage states to set up maritime boards whereby these minor ports and non major ports could go through a planned rather than unplanned growth....That is the thrust we have given in the National Maritime Development Council.

In all these ports connectivity is going to be an issue, which is to be solved by both road and rail, both of which are under the central government. So is the issue of safety.

The boards will recommend their plans to the centre via their respective states. So coordination will be much easier. The connectivity and security issues would also provide a platform for collaboration between the states and center.

However, lot of unplanned developments in port sector are happening across states?

All the projects that have come are more or less captive ports. Ports like Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam are depended upon captive cargo due to some industry already existing or coming up shortly or it is depended on some hinterland support. These are not ports which are set up as infrastructure for the overall development of the country as such.

Do you think the ministry has a comprehensive view of port developments?

Yes. National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) also talks about shipyards, and many other things. They all are happening. Each one is a sector by itself. Each of them is concerned about itself. But the over all picture at the national level is in line with NMDP.

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