- Recently, Jawaharlal Nehru Port became the first major port of the country to become a 100% Landlord port of India having all berths being operated on PPP model.
- In this model, the publicly governed port authority acts as a regulatory body and as a landlord, while private companies carry out port operations—mainly cargo-handling activities.
- Here, the port authority maintains ownership of the port while the infrastructure is leased to private firms that provide and maintain their own superstructure and install their own equipment to handle cargo.
- In return, the landlord port gets a share of the revenue from the private entity.
- In service ports, the port authority does the administration and operation of port activities.
- The port operation includes providing navigational services, warehouse facilities, cranes, and skilled employees/laborers. the construction of infrastructure, superstructure, and providing employees, becomes the responsibility of the port authority.
- Even if the port authority act in the public interest full ownership of the port remains with the state or the government.
- In most cases, service ports run on losses due to inefficiency. Since the port belongs to the state and operations control by the port authority, workers go on strikes to obtain their demands.
Key highlights of Jawaharlal Nehru Port
- It’s located in Navi Mumbai is the premier container handling port in India, accounting for around 50% of the total containerized cargo volume, across the major ports of India.
- It was commissioned in 1989 and in three decades of its operations, JNP has transformed from a bulk- cargo terminal to become the premier container port in the country.
- It is one of the leading container ports in the country and is ranked 26th among the top 100 global ports (as per Lloyds List Top 100 Ports 2021 Report).
- With its state-of-the-art facilities JNP meets all the international standards, user-friendly atmosphere, and excellent connectivity by rail and road to the hinterland.
- It is presently handling 9000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) capacity vessels and with the upgradation, it can handle 12200 TEUs capacity vessels.
PPP model
- Public-private partnerships involve collaboration between a government agency and a private-sector company that can be used to finance, build, and operate projects, such as public transportation networks, parks, and convention centers.
- PPP is considered an effective tool for attracting investment in the port sector. Until now 86 projects worth Rs. 55,000 Crores have been granted approval under PPP.
- The key projects on PPP being implemented include berths, mechanization, development of oil jetty, container jetties, O&M of the container terminal, O&M of International cruise terminal, Commercialization of non-core assets on PPP mode, Tourism projects, viz., marina, development of islands to promote tourism.
- With the cargo volume expected to increase between 1.7 to 2 times (of 2020) by 2030, the percentage of cargo handled at Major Ports by PPP or other operators is expected to reach 85% by the year 2030.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT