Mumbai: With employees opposing ports corporatisation, Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said attempts are being made to find alternatives to upgrade ports and their services, beyond bringing them under the purview of the Companies Act as announced in the Budget.
"Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told us (in the Budget) about the Companies Act, but we are looking at other alternatives beyond the Companies Act to modernise and develop the ports," Gadkari told reporters at a Mumbai Port Trust event in Mumbai.
He said his ministry is in discussions and seeking guidance from the Finance Ministry on the alternatives, but did not elaborate on what those alternatives might be.
In the Budget, Jaitley had announced the government intention to corporatise ports, saying, "ports need to attract investments as well as leverage the huge land resource lying unused with them and to enable us to do so, ports in the public sector will be encouraged to corporatise and become companies under the Company's Act."
Managements of major ports, including the largest container port JNPT, have welcomed the move. However, employee unions are opposed to the move and threatened to go on an indefinite strike, which was cancelled following interventions by labour commissioners and a specially constituted panel.
"All the five employee unions are still opposed to corporatisation, but we have been assured by the Indian Port Association that our interests will be protected," the All-India Port & Dock Workers Federation had said in a statement after withdrawing the strike call in March.
Gadkari on Friday sought to allay the fears, asserting that equity will not change hands under the corporatisation move.
"Basic concept is development and modernisation. We don't want to privatise, nor do we want to give any equity to the private people. We want to modernise, protect the interest of labour, protect the interest of ports and at the same time improve the services of the ports to improve business and do good profits," Gadkari said.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating an oil spill response facility for the Mumbai Harbour, Gadkari said the 12 major ports will be investing Rs 1,000 crore to set up clean power facilities and reduce their reliance on the grid power.
"The government has sanctioned a 150-mw plan for green power for ports," he said, adding generating the required finance will not be difficult.
Citing the example of the JNPT, he said it pays up to Rs 13 per unit of grid power and has a requirement of 25 mw.
Under the plan, a hybrid project involving setting up solar and wind capacities on rooftops as well as windmills on the sea will be done, he said.
The government has also appointed a consultant to check the feasibility of generating power by installing windmills on the sea, Gadkari said, adding such a technology has immensepossibilities for a city like Mumbai.
There are working projects where power is produced through four different clean sources--including solar, wind, wind inside the sea and tidal energy--at a single location and adopting those can help eliminate the financial capital's reliance on the grid, Gadkari said, adding that he will be visiting one such project during his upcoming Japan visit.
Gadkari, who also oversees road transport, said the government is also planning to plant 5 crore trees along the 1 lakh km network of national highways, which will help both the environment and get farmers jobs.
The government will also be giving easy loans to farmers for having nurseries to grow the trees, he added.
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