The ambitious Sagarmala project, which envisions a port-studded coastline, has found its detractors.
The proposal to build 50 new minor ports -- with a distance of not more than 75 kilometres between each -- and two major ones, at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion), has received flak from a section of port officials.
The officials believe there is no point in cluttering up the coastline, since India does not need any more ports.
At present, of the 184 non-major ports in India, only 50 are functional and have some cargo handling activity. The rest are more or less defunct.
Moreover, the government has specified that ports will be established only where a natural draft of 6-8 metres is available.
Interestingly, even existing major ports, like Mumbai and Kolkata, just manage to maintain an 8-metre draft at many of their berths. Only 18 minor ports have a draft of more than 6 metres.
Given the situation, finding 6-8 metre natural drafts at such proximity would be impossible, a port official said. He also pointed out that just the availability of a deep draft would not solve the problems.
Other factors should also be considered while planning a port. To ensure the tranquillity of sea, breakwaters need to be built, and they entail a very high investment.
Although the draft Sagarmala plan promises basic infrastructural facilities for the ports, building breakwaters forms 30 to 40 per cent of the total cost. This, along with the cost of establishing connectivity, can add up to a hefty sum.
The proposed maritime development cess might not be sufficient, a port official said.
He added that private parties, after ensuring the presence of basic infrastructure, accord primacy to the expected traffic flow. "It is difficult to imagine that they will be willing to sink in huge investments in greenfield sites, where hinterland trade is yet to develop," he said.
Moreover, with the possibility of ports coming up in close vicinity, jostling for a pie in the available business might affect the prospective financial viability of any undertaking.
Gujarat, with longest coastline of 1,214.7 kilometre has 40 minor ports of which only 6 handled more than one million tonnes of traffic in 2002-03.
Maharashtra has as many as 53 minor ports along its coast, with two major ports over a 652.6 kilometre coastline.
Among the minor ports, only two managed a traffic flow more than a million tonne last fiscal. It seems the two industrial centres, where one can expect the business to grow in future, already have their hands full.
A more practical approach would be to identify those ports, which had development potential and could be built to international standards with incremental investments, the official said.
In the Sagarmala project, as much as Rs 15,000 crore (Rs 150 billion) has been set aside for building these ports. Diverting the same investment towards upgrading the existing ports will be a more constructive exercise.
The officials conceded the initial draft of the Sagarmala would need much deeper thought and a lot more analysis before a proposal for the Cabinet is firmed up.
In fact, after receiving feedback from various quarters, like the petroleum ministry and other user agencies, the scale of the project might even be pared, they said.