more business and make opti-

mum use of their land

resources.
Major ports in India have,
between them, 2.64 lakh
acres of land. Though a major
resource, the land utilisation
has not been optimum and
has often yielded lesser re-
turns.
The thrust of the new pol-
icy, therefore, has been on
linking the value of land with
prevailing market rates.
Mumbai Port Trust (MPT)
has about 741 acres for leas-
ing purposes, including 70
acres of vacant land. A large
part of the vacant land can be
leased out now.
MPT Chairman Rajeev
Gupta could not quantify the
nancial gain, though he said
that the port trust was cur-
rently getting lease rentals of
Rs.120 crore.
Similarly, Jawaharlal Neh-
ru Port Trust (JNPT) can
monetise 1976 acres outside
the customs bond area, ac-
cording to its Chairman-in-
charge NN Kumar. We dont
have much land inside the
customs bond area and the
new policy will help in in-
creasing throughput. This
policy has come at the right
time and we will lease out
most of the land outside the
customs bond area and at-
tract more port-related busi-
nesses to stay ahead in the
race, Mr. Kumar said.
Under the new y guide-
lines, land can be allotted on-
ly through licensing in
custom bond areas for only
ve years by inviting compet-
itive bidding, while land out-
side custom bond areas can
be leased through tender-
cum-auction for 30 years.
There is also a provision to
licence land outside custom
bond areas, but it should be
only for port-related activ-
ities.
For leasing of land up to 99
years, approval of the govern-
ment has to be obtained. All
the land deals need to be rat-
ied by Tariff Authority for
Major Ports (TAMP). The
new guidelines were applica-
ble to all major ports, except
for 10,000 acres relating to
township areas in Mumbai,
Kolkata and Kandla, said
Sambit Tripathy, Director,
Ministry of Shipping.
The new guidelines for
land management are part of
the ongoing process of port
reforms and liberalisation,
said shipping ministry offi-
cials. While major ports, own-
ed by the Centre, operate in a
regulated environment, the
non-major ports compris-
ing state ports and private
ports enjoy a substantial
degree of exibility.
The new policy guidelines
are, therefore, part of the gov-
ernments plan towards cre-
ating a level-playing eld for
major and non-major ports.
The 12 major ports in India
Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT,
Marmugao, New Managlore,
Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V
O Chidambarnar, Visakha-
patnam, Paradip and Kolkata
(including Haldia) handle
about 61 per cent of cargo
traffic.
MUMBAI: The Central Govern-
ment, on Thursday, unveiled
new policy guidelines for 12
major ports, a move that
would allow the ports to lev-
erage their land resources for
commercial benet.
The guidelines, aimed at
bringing transparency, were
approved by the Cabinet on
January 2, and were an-
nounced by Shipping Secre-
tary Vishwapati Trivedi at a
conference here on Thursday.
The new guidelines will
provide the necessary regu-
latory framework for land al-
lotment by major ports across
India. Mr. Trivedi said these
guidelines had been drawn to
help ports carry out leasing
and licensing of port land in a
transparent manner.
Discretionary powers have
been reduced and tender-
cum-auction had been pre-
scribed as the most preferred
method of allotment, he
added.
The guidelines are expect-
ed to give a llip to major
ports and help them attract
New land policy guidelines for major ports unveiled
Special Correspondent
A view of Mumbai Port- FILE PHOTO: PAUL NORONHA