PMO push to ports sector; directs fast-tracking of projects

Giving a push to the ports sector, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has directed fast-tracking of delayed projects and undertaking new ones at the cost of Rs 16,000 crore during the current fiscal.

The directive came at a meeting chaired by Pulok Chatterji, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, to review the status of the projects against the backdrop of the shipping ministry being able to award only three projects out of the 23 earmarked in the last financial year.

Taking note of the slow progress in the sector in view of delays in clearances, he said that new processes have been put in place to obtain speedy clearances. "One of the major bottlenecks in the past in moving ahead was the issue of securing clearances from various ministries such as home, defence and environment. In the past three months, almost all projects have secured clearances as a result of close monitoring and follow-up by PMO," an official statement said.

During the last fiscal, three projects worth Rs 8,000 crore were awarded against 23 earmarked projects entailing cost of Rs 16,744 crore to augment capacity of 12 major ports to 237 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Awarding 20 pending projects "within the first half of this financial year," the principal secretary told the meeting, adding the PMO would review the progress in three months. Besides, Chatterji also asked officials to award atleast 10 more projects this fiscal and directed shipping secretary PK Sinha to hold quarterly meetings with the ministry of forests and environment (MoEF) and state government officials, to address regulatory hurdles delyaing the projects, sources said.