HYDERABAD: Alarm bells are ringing in the Union ministry of shipping after the discovery that huge tracts of the waterfront on the Andhra Pradesh coast has been farmed out to private parties. This aggregates to a total of 348 km of the total 975 km or over one-thirds of the coastline of AP. The extent of the waterfront - a scarce national resource - given out is so large that nothing is left for related activities by the GoI.
The matter came to the fore two months ago when a meeting was convened by the Union shipping secretary to consider a proposal for establishing an integrated port-cum-shipbuilding centre on the coast of AP jointly by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Shipping Corporation of India and Cochin Shipyard along with equity from the GoI.
Though the representative of the AP government - the principal secretary (infrastructure and investments) breezily told the meeting that finding land - 5,000 acres - would not be a problem, the chairman of VPT pointed out that the private players responsible for operating the ports of Krishnapatnam and Machilipatnam had been given exclusive rights for operations on a huge tract on the coast of south Andhra Pradesh. On this, the representative of the state government offered Nakkapalli for location of the proposed venture. However, the Union secretary himself pointed that this place was in Visakhapatnam district and therefore concentration of ports in the same area would be a matter of concern.
Both the Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports are located here. After the meeting the shipping ministry collated data and found that a staggering 348 kms of waterfront had been given to the Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and VANPIC ports in the last few years.
A confidential note prepared by the ministry noted that the waterfront had been allotted not only for port development but also under the 'garb of port exclusive zone'. The note pointed out that after allocation the entire stretch had been cornered by one single group . "It is inconceivable that one such group has the requisite financial and technical resources to exploit such a vast stretch of waterfront on their own...the obvious conclusion is that individuals and business houses have aggressively cornered the waterfront with the objective of leveraging a scarce national resource for trading and achieving windfall projects. Perhaps a similar trend is also taking place in other coastal states such as Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu which would be required to be verified", the note added.
Even as one-third of the coastline of AP has been given away to private parties, older ports in the east coast of the country have hardly any land. Visakhapatnam port holds 15.3 km of waterfront. Chennai 10.6 km, Paradip 25.8 km and Tuticorin 19.75 km. Even the new private sector Gangavaram port has barely 39 km of coastline under its control. However, there was no illegality in the state government allocating such a huge portion of the national waterfront to these ports. The subject is under the concurrent list meaning that both the state and central governments have powers to allocate the waterfront.
The note says that the draft Indian Ports Act which seeks to provide a new legislative framework does provide a consultative process for the purpose of allocating the national waterfront, but apprehends that by the time this
legislation is enacted the entire waterfront along the coast would have been allocated to private
parties.
But analysts like Lok Satta president Jayaprakash Narayan think that the whole matter smacks of a huge scam that needs to be unravelled in all its dimension.
"This is much bigger than the 2G scam. It is the same coastline where the defence ministry had to shell out Rs 1000 crore for the expansion of Vizag naval base. We have to go to the bottom of
The matter came to the fore two months ago when a meeting was convened by the Union shipping secretary to consider a proposal for establishing an integrated port-cum-shipbuilding centre on the coast of AP jointly by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Shipping Corporation of India and Cochin Shipyard along with equity from the GoI.
Though the representative of the AP government - the principal secretary (infrastructure and investments) breezily told the meeting that finding land - 5,000 acres - would not be a problem, the chairman of VPT pointed out that the private players responsible for operating the ports of Krishnapatnam and Machilipatnam had been given exclusive rights for operations on a huge tract on the coast of south Andhra Pradesh. On this, the representative of the state government offered Nakkapalli for location of the proposed venture. However, the Union secretary himself pointed that this place was in Visakhapatnam district and therefore concentration of ports in the same area would be a matter of concern.
Both the Visakhapatnam and Gangavaram ports are located here. After the meeting the shipping ministry collated data and found that a staggering 348 kms of waterfront had been given to the Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and VANPIC ports in the last few years.
A confidential note prepared by the ministry noted that the waterfront had been allotted not only for port development but also under the 'garb of port exclusive zone'. The note pointed out that after allocation the entire stretch had been cornered by one single group . "It is inconceivable that one such group has the requisite financial and technical resources to exploit such a vast stretch of waterfront on their own...the obvious conclusion is that individuals and business houses have aggressively cornered the waterfront with the objective of leveraging a scarce national resource for trading and achieving windfall projects. Perhaps a similar trend is also taking place in other coastal states such as Gujarat, Odisha and Tamil Nadu which would be required to be verified", the note added.
Even as one-third of the coastline of AP has been given away to private parties, older ports in the east coast of the country have hardly any land. Visakhapatnam port holds 15.3 km of waterfront. Chennai 10.6 km, Paradip 25.8 km and Tuticorin 19.75 km. Even the new private sector Gangavaram port has barely 39 km of coastline under its control. However, there was no illegality in the state government allocating such a huge portion of the national waterfront to these ports. The subject is under the concurrent list meaning that both the state and central governments have powers to allocate the waterfront.
The note says that the draft Indian Ports Act which seeks to provide a new legislative framework does provide a consultative process for the purpose of allocating the national waterfront, but apprehends that by the time this
legislation is enacted the entire waterfront along the coast would have been allocated to private
parties.
But analysts like Lok Satta president Jayaprakash Narayan think that the whole matter smacks of a huge scam that needs to be unravelled in all its dimension.
"This is much bigger than the 2G scam. It is the same coastline where the defence ministry had to shell out Rs 1000 crore for the expansion of Vizag naval base. We have to go to the bottom of
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