The government is planning to treat charges paid by private port operators to port trusts as deemed exports under the Export Promotion Capital Good Scheme.
"This will enable private operators of container or berth terminals to claim duty concession on import of equipment under the duty drawback scheme," said a shipping ministry source. He said the provision was necessary because such a concession could be availed of only against an export obligation.
The government may also restore to the shipping ministry the power to grant environmental clearances for ports, which now lies with the ministry of environment.
These are among the policy initiatives launched by the government as part of the Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion) Sagar Mala Project. In the fifth meeting of the Maritime State Development Council held in Goa earlier this month, specific areas were identified for spending Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion), Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) and Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) set aside for ports, shipping and inland water transport, respectively.
The projects will be financed through private investments, including foreign direct investment, investments through formation of special purpose vehicles and public funds, including budgetary support, inter-corporate loans and external funding.
The possibility of levying a maritime development cess will also be considered. The cess will be charged on the volume of cargo carried on a per tonne basis and the proceeds will be used for development of the maritime sector.
The ports sector, which has cornered the lion's share of the investment earmarked for the project, will be witnessing a lot of activity.
Developing car carriers and cruise terminals in Chennai, Mumbai, Mormugoa, New Mangalore, Cochin and Tuticorin and building a new container terminal at Ennore are among the projects that have been proposed.
This is in addition to the projects already approved, including development of Chennai into a hub port, construction of two offshore container terminals in Mumbai, a coal berth in Ennore and the Sethusamudram ship canal project.
In an attempt to spruce up the inland water transport system, the government is planning to develop seven new waterways, including those at the Sunderbans, Mahanadi and East Coast Canal, and to construct 4,000 km of state waterways.
An increase in the number of vessels plying on inland waterways from 400 to 2,000 is also on the cards. The government expects to increase the share of inland waterway traffic in the total inland traffic from 1 per cent to 2 per cent.
A 15-20 per cent annual growth in Indian tonnage has been envisaged provided the tonnage tax regime is introduced.
