Why in news?
- Union government has approved official amendments to the Major Port Authorities Bill 2016.
- The amendments are based on the recommendations of the department related parliamentary standing committee.
What is the MPA 2016 bill about?
- Under the Major Port Authorities Act 1963, 12 major ports had been created in India.
- All major ports are managed by the respective Board of Port Trusts.
- Trusts have members appointed by the central government.
- The MPA, 2016 Bill provides for the creation of a Board of Major Port Authority for each major port.
- The Boards will succeed the existing Port Trusts.
- The proposed Board will comprise of a Chairperson and a deputy Chairperson.
- Both of them will be appointed by the central government on the recommendation of a select committee.
- Besides, the Bill allows for more Private-Public partnership and market based tariff fixing for generating revenues.
What are the recent amendments?
- The Cabinet has recently accepted some of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on the Bill.
- The number of the Labour representatives to be appointed in the Port Authority Board among the serving employees of the Port has been increased from one to two.
- This is to represent the interests of the employees.
- The focus is also being emphasised on re-skilling the workforce.
- After commencement of the Act, for PPP projects, the concessionaire shall be free to fix the tariff based on market conditions.
- Presiding Officer and Members of the Adjudicatory Board shall be appointed by the Central Government.
- This would be on the recommendations of the Selection Committee.
- Central Government shall have the power to remove the Presiding Officer or any member of the Adjudicatory Board following the prescribed manner.
What are the existing concerns in ports?
- Trust boards have turned into fiefdoms of bureaucrats and politicians.
- The development of ports has suffered, with decisions not being taken in an objective, transparent manner.
- India’s ports account for over 70% of India’s international trade by value.
- It’s necessary to address inefficiencies such as high turnaround time of ships by stepping up modernisation and grappling with careless management.
- Specialised cargo handling berths have a higher scope for PPP, mechanisation and improved efficiencies.
What is the significance of the bill?
- The Bill comes as a measure for addressing the technical and governance issues in the ports.
- It paves the way for governance reform in the management of 11 out of 12 major ports in India that now run as trusts. Notably, the Ennore port is a company.
- The Centre acts as both regulator and service provider in these.
- Under the provisions of the Bill, the government would only regulate the services provided by private players.
- It will not be a service provider itself.
- It thus addresses the issue of conflict of interest.
- The new Bill marks an effort to promote ease of doing business.
- With ‘authority’ status, ports will have a smaller management board.
- This enables expedient decisions on modernisation and use of port trust lands in the public interest.
Source: PRS, Business Line
