Three Indian ports get federal funds

Jawaharlal Nehru (Mumbai), Kandla (Gujarat) and Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) port deals will share the funds in order to expand their cargo capacity to 79 million tonnes per year.

The $996m Jawaharlal Nehru project (currently on hold with a consortium led by the Port of Singapore Authority) aims to deepen the port's channel from 10 metres to 12 metres, allowing larger containers to berth there. Kandla port PPP - awarded to a team comprising BMT, PSL and Axis Bank - will see the erecting of its 16th multi-purpose cargo berth, with a value of $1bn. The Visakhapatnam port looks to build its eighth berth with the aim of handling cargo at the Inner Harbour.

It is the aim of the Ministry of Shipping to attract further investment from private partners to be used for 12 more major ports in order to handle a total of 2.5 billion tonnes cargo. A statement from the Prime Minister's Office said that the traffic at major ports is likely to grow at 8% from 600 million tonnes at present to 1,215 million by 2020.