Major ports empowered to perform with greater efficiency
The Tariff Authority for Major Ports’s (TAMP) role has been redefined and empowered to fix tariff which will act as a reference tariff for purposes of bidding for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects under Major Port Authorities Bill, 2000, said Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, adding that the bill has been moved to Rajya Sabha on 10 Feb 2021.
The PPP operators will be free to fix tariff-based on market conditions while the Board of Port Authority has been delegated the power to fix the scale of rates for other port services and assets including land.
An Adjudicatory Board has been proposed in the bill to carry out the residual function of the erstwhile Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) for Major Ports, to look into disputes between ports and PPP concessionaires, to review stressed PPP projects and suggest measures to review stressed PPP projects and suggest measures to revive such projects and to look into complaints regarding services rendered by the ports and private operators operating within the ports.
The Boards of Port Authority have been delegated full powers to enter into contracts, planning and development, fixing of tariff except in national interest, security and emergency arising out of inaction and default. In the present MPT Act, 1963 prior approval of the Central Government was required in 22 instances.
The Board of each Major Port shall be entitled to create specific master plan in respect of any development or infrastructure.
Provisions of CSR & development of infrastructure by Port Authority have been introduced.
Provision has been made for safeguarding the pay & allowances and service conditions including pensionary benefits of the employees of major ports
The salient features of the Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 are as under:
The Bill is more compact in comparison to the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 as the number of sections has been reduced to 76 from 134 by eliminating overlapping and obsolete Sections.
The new Bill has proposed a simplified composition of the Board of Port Authority which will comprise of 11 to 13 Members representing various interests from the present 17 to 19 Members.
A compact Board with professional independent Members will strengthen decision making and strategic planning.
Provision has been made for inclusion of representatives of State Government in which the Major Port is situated, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence and Customs, Department of Revenue as Members in the Board apart from a Government Nominee Member and a Member representing the employees of the Major Port Authority.
With a view to promote the expansion of port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce, the Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 bill aims at decentralizing decision making and to infuse professionalism in governance of major ports, explained Mandaviya.
It imparts faster and transparent decision making benefiting the stakeholders and better project execution capability. The Bill is aimed at reorienting the governance model in central ports to landlord port model in line with the successful global practice. This will also help in bringing transparency in operations of Major Ports.
“This will empower the Major Ports to perform with greater efficiency on account of full autonomy in decision making and by modernizing the institutional framework of Major Ports,” he said. #investment #projects #infrastructure #development #ports /fiinews.com
