Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said a blueprint of 142 expansion projects has been finalised to modernise 12 major ports and develop new harbours at a cost of about Rs 90,000 crore.
These 12 ports under the administrative control of the Centre saw a growth of 3.24 per cent in cargo to 326.4 million tonnes (MT) in the April-September period of the current financial year as against 316.1 MT in the corresponding period last year.
"A master plan for modernisation of the 12 ports besides development of new ports has been finalised. These ports are growth catalysts of modern India," Shipping, Road, Transport, Highways and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari told PTI.
Gadkari said a total of 142 expansion projects worth more than Rs 90,000 crore have been identified for these ports and timely delivery of projects will give the much-needed boost to the economy, besides shaping Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of new India.
"Out of the 142 identified expansion projects, 57 projects are under implementation and one has been completed," he said.
India has 12 major ports, namely Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia), which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.
The April-September figures of the cargo at 12 major ports show that the highest growth was registered by Cochin Port (19.62 per cent), followed by Kolkata (including Haldia), New Mangalore, Paradip with a growth of about 12 per cent each.
According to the official data, Cochin Port growth was mainly due to increase in traffic of POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) (27.8 per cent) and Containers (10.3 per cent).
In Kolkata Port, the data showed that the overall growth was positive i.e. 11.95 per cent.
During the period April to September 2017, Kandla Port handled the highest volume of traffic i.e. 53.29 MT (16.33 per cent share), followed by Paradip with 47.61 MT (14.59 per cent share), JNPT with 32.69 MT (10.02 per cent share), Mumbai with 31.23 MT (9.57 per cent share), and Visakhapatnam with 30.15 MT (9.24 per cent share). Together, these five ports handled around 60 per cent of Major Ports Traffic.
Commodity-wise percentage share of POL was maximum i.e. 34.01 per cent, followed by Container (20.22 per cent), Thermal & Steam Coal (12.66 per cent), other Cargo (12.17 per cent), Coking & Other Coal (7.6 per cent) and Iron Ore & Pellets (6.65 per cent).