Delay in defence nod to 11 port projects pushing up cost: Shipping ministry

MUMBAI: The shipping ministry has asked the defence ministry to hasten security clearance of 11 port projects, saying the delay was pushing up the cost of these projects.

“We have written to the defence ministry to fasten the process of awarding security clearance,” said Rakesh Shrivastava, joint secretary (ports) in the shipping ministry.

The ministry had said in May that it was aiming to award 24 public-private partnership projects in the port sector worth Rs 17,000 crore during the current fiscal year.

These projects included a mega container terminal at Chennai port at an estimated cost of Rs 3,686 crore and a mechanised berth at Vishakhapatnam for Rs 218 crore.

But the ministry has been able to award just one project so far as the defence ministry has not given the necessary security nod for many of the other proposed projects.