In a bid to accelerate its reform programme as a way to increase economic growth, Indian lawmakers have revealed new draft legislation which is designed to turn public port trusts into independent companies, according to JOC.com.
The Ministry of Shipping for India said: “Each port authority of a major port shall be operated, regulated and administered by the board. The [new independent] review board will reduce the extent of litigation between public-private-partnership operators and ports.”
This follows news that India had announced a fresh port privatisation project involving the establishment of a new department in order to more effectively attract private funds.
Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister for India recently argued that if India doesn’t switch to privatisation, minor ports in the country could overtake major ports in terms of competition.
India is set to build 8 more major ports in its effort to accelerate growth, which would increase the total number of major ports to 20.
By the end of the 2014-2015 financial year, APM Terminals’ Mumbai container terminal had seen the highest throughput, having reached more than two million TEU.
