The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) thursday reviewed the progress made in the implementation of Public Private Partnership projects in major ports and the progress of dredging activities. An official statement said the follow-up meeting examined the progress of instructions given to the Shipping Ministry three months ago to speed up the implementation of PPP projects so that the constraints in port capacity would be removed. In the past three months, almost all projects have secured clearances due to the close monitoring and follow-up by the PMO. An official release said, new processes are being put in place to obtain security clearances speedily in future.
Three major PPP projects in Mumbai(JNPT), Kandla and Visakhapatnam totaling nearly Rs.8000 crore have been awarded, creating an additional capacity of more than 79 million tons per annum. The other PPP projects are also moving ahead at full speed and most of them will be awarded within the first half of this financial year.
The Ministry of Shipping is also fast tracking dredging activities. A Committee in the Planning Commission is looking into the funds requirement for dredging and a plan is being drawn up to improve the draft at ports so that larger vessels can be accommodated.