Panaji: To help Goa’s struggling barge industry, the department of inland waterways has significantly reduced the annual tax on barges. Instead of the previous Rs 200 per tonne of cargo transported by barges, operators will now pay Rs 60 per tonne. Smaller barges with a capacity of less than 1,000 tonnes will have to pay a reduced fee of Rs 40 per tonne annually.
Captain of Ports (CoP) Octavio Rodrigues said that the rationalised tax has been notified and aims to prevent barge owners, who are already under pressure, from facing bankruptcy due to the current challenges.
“It was Rs 200 per tonne per year but there is no business right now. As and when the transportation increases, the tax will also increase,” said Rodrigues.
Goa once had 224 barges in the 2,000-tonne category, but today only 45 remain operational.
Atul Jadhav, managing director of New Era Shipping Ltd, welcomed the tax reduction, stating that the concessions will go a long way in reducing the burden on barge operators. “We were expecting to start mining and ore transportation but instead of the 200 trips, we got hardly 30 trips per barge. The barge tax is a flat tax for the year, so whether you do one trip or 100 trips, you pay the same amount,” said Jadhav.
Barge operators have spent over Rs 1 crore to repair a single barge, with an expenditure of Rs 50 lakh incurred just for the steel. Given the high cost incurred to maintain barges, many barge operators have moved their vessels out of Goa or have scrapped their barges.
“Whether you operate or you don’t, corrosion takes place and our barges are in saline water throughout the year,” said Jadhav. “Even if you sell or scrap them, you hardly get anything.”
Before the iron ore mining ban, Goa had 80 operational small barges but currently only 9 remain seaworthy.