Towards a ‘Port-led
Development’: Mr. Rana Kapoor, President ASSOCHAM
ASSOCHAM welcomes
Union Government’s vision to evolve a model for ‘Port-led development’ to
transform India’s coastline into a growth catalyst. In the upcoming Budget, I
am hopeful that the Finance Minister will consider the following long standing
demands of the industry-
(1) Reduction in customs duty on import of equipment for port
projects
(2) Exempting port projects from MAT and
DTT
(3) Granting infrastructure status to the
industry
While these would
offer a short term solace to big-ticket port projects adversely affected by
procedural and approval delays over the last 2 years, I recommend the
Government to shape a longer term strategy towards the sector. Towards this, I
recommend following initiatives.
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| Mr. Rana Kapoor, President, ASSOCHAM |
Togetherness in development
* Private and public sector need to partner to
create capacities in the sector. A PPP-based policy to encourage port
development and management needs to be carved via BOOT (Build Own Operate
Transfer) structures.
* New Ports can collaborate with India Inc. to
guarantee flow of traffic on the lines of the recent agreement signed between
Ennore Port and Ford India Pvt for export of Ford cars
Give Tariff freedom
* To generate ample private sector interest,
there is a need to introduce market-linked tariff rates
Propel Trade &
Industry
* Port development is bound to act as a
propeller for export oriented industries.
* Coastal SEZs/investment regions/ clusters
along the lines of Chinese model of coastal development must be incentivized
Promote Tourism
* The Government has placed significant
emphasis on developing tourism in a bid to build ‘Brand India’. Keeping in mind
high income and employment multipliers of the sector, a specialized policy for
port-tourism can be carved out.
Ports can be used to create state-to-state
tourism circuits such as the Gujarat-Mumbai-Goa route.
Establish India as a
Tidal Energy hub..
* Among many firsts, Gujarat Government is
developing India’s first tidal energy plant of 50 MWs. As a long term strategy
to reduce dependence on coal and to meet future energy requirements, India
needs to diversify its energy sources.
At present, India has
no policy on tidal energy. A clear policy along with clarity on tariffs and
commercial development of tidal energy must be the focus of the new Government.
Tripartite
development: Port-Road-Rail..
* To improve transit time and reduce
congestion at ports, there is a need to complement port development with
hinterland connectivity via a rail/road network.
* With Roads, Shipping, Railways ministries
coming under the aegis of a single Transport ministry, the development of the
envisaged multi-modal transport system should be simpler
Now, most Indian
ports suffer from capacity constraints, long turnaround time and poor
productivity. The average TAT at Indian ports is between 2 to 5 days compared
to 4 to 6 hours in other countries like Hong Kong and Singapore.
Reforms in the sector
need to be multi-dimensional to create synergies between port development on
one hand with trade, industry, infrastructure, tourism and energy sectors on
the other, to enable a strong revival in economic growth.
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