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The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), has warned against ‘haphazard and piecemeal' growth of container terminals along the country's coasts.
Unbridled growth of massive infrastructure along the coasts in this manner would result in steady but slow environmental degradation.
‘DISATROUS RESULTS'
It this is not checked as and when warranted, the consequences would be disastrous in the long run, the committee said.
The committee suggested that promoters carry out a comprehensive study keeping in view the global scenario on container traffic and the apportionment of traffic region-wise.
It noted that Vallarpadam in Kochi is already being developed as a big container terminal on the west coast and has gone into operation in February.
Vizhinjam, about 120 km to the south on the same coast, is now proposed for development of the same class of traffic.
EAST COAST
Chennai, on the east coast, is planning expansion to accommodate the biggest container vessel ever made (a capacity of 18,000 TEUs or twenty-foot equivalent units).
The Tuticorin Port Trust (since renamed after V. O. Chidambaranar), too, has made known its ambitions to grow big, and has entered the race with the would-be peers along the coasts.
Colachel (close to Kanya Kumari and to the south of Vizhinjam) is being conceived as a major port for transhipment to be developed with assistance from Malaysia.
But, according to the Shipping Ministry's own admission, the country's major ports registered capacity utilisation rates ranging between 90 to 100 per cent in 2010.
HIGH UTLISATION
Such high capacity utilisation rates have invariably created lot of port congestion, ship turnaround time, and avoidable delays with its huge cost implications.
To ensure capacity utilisation and high growth, the country needs to upgrade and increase its port capacity three fold.
It is necessary, therefore, to increase the overall capacity of Indian ports to 3.23 billion tonnes by 2020, which is more than three times the present level of 963 million tonnes.
PPP MODEL
The Ministry strongly encourages terminals established through public-private partnerships (PPPs) which are 100 per cent exempt from income-tax for 10 years.
At least 24 such PPPs, worth about $1.4 billion, have been completed by now.
In the past 18-20 months, at least 19 new projects have been given the go-ahead and are in various stages of development.
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