MANGALORE: P. Tamilvanan, Chairman, New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), has welcomed the recent policy announcement related to deciding tariffs for projects.
The new guidelines for determining Tariff for Projects at Major Ports (TAMP), which aim at attracting more investment and cargo traffic to a port, were announced a few days ago. Guidelines allow flexibility to promoters of new port terminals to fix the tariff.
Mr. Tamilvanan told The Hindu, “It is an improvement as the market transitions have been taken into consideration. Overall, the earlier scenario was such that they went strictly by the guidelines (set parameters). Now, it is more flexible and takes into account market conditions.”
Shekar Pujari, president New Mangalore Port Stevedores, said the users of the port should have been consulted and they should have had a say in defining tariffs charged by ports. The opinion of exporters and importers should be considered in drawing up the tariff. Business at a port should be done keeping in mind the interest of the trade, especially as international trade today was extremely competitive. “If the rate is high, who will export?” he said. Also, a third party agency was required to control the entire procedure of deciding tariffs. Otherwise, there was no point in drawing up guidelines. Mr. Pujari said TAMP, “being (evolved by) a government body, by and large, they listen to the ports, not to the users. They don’t know the ground reality”.
