India Okays 'Major Port Trust Authorities Bill, 2016'
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
The Union Cabinet of India, chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has approved the Major Port Authorities Bill, 2016, a move aimed at bringing greater efficiency and professionalism in governance of ports through full autonomy in decision making and by modernizing the Institutional structure of Major Ports.
It will replace the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. The Union Cabinet "has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Shipping to replace the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 by the Major Port Authorities Bill, 2016," an official statement said.
"With a view to promote the expansion of port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce, the proposed bill aims at decentralizing decision making and to infuse professionalism in governance of ports."
The new Major Ports Authority Bill, 2016 would help to impart faster and transparent decision making benefiting the stakeholders and better project execution capability.
The Bill is aimed at reorienting the governance model in central Ports to landlord port model in line with the successful global practice. This will also help in bringing transparency in operations of Major Ports.
The proposed Bill has been prepared after extensive consultation with all the stakeholders and Ministries/Departments.
The role of Tariff Authority for Major Ports [TAMP] has also been redefined and an independent Review Board has been proposed to be created to carry out the residual function of the erstwhile TAMP for Major Ports, to look into disputes between ports and PPP concessionaires.