Tenders for 3 ports worth Rs 20K Crore by March: Gadkari

The government will float tenders for three new major ports in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu by March, entailing investment of Rs 20,000 crore, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced.
“I can assure you that we will issue tenders for these three projects and the work on the projects like breakwaters will
begin by April-May,” Shipping and Road, Transport & Highways Minister told an industry meet. The three new ports will
come up in Wadhwan, Sagar and Colachel. On whether the country should have more ports when the existing ones are not operating to capacity, Gadkari said the idea is to let them compete more, helping consumers through correction
in rates. The government is also targeting to increase the use of cheaper and cleaner water transport for movement
of goods to 15% of the trade by 2019, from the present 3.5%, he said.
Gadkari said logistics constitutes for up to 30% of a finished product’s cost, which makes exports uncompetitive. He
said the 12 major ports and three state-run undertakings under his ministry will be delivering a profit of Rs 6,000 crore
this fiscal, and the entire money will be invested for modernisation, computerisation and mechanisation of ports.