House
panel warns against giving port projects to MNCs
New Delhi: Citing security reasons, a parliamentary committee has recommended that the shipping ministry should not allow foreign MNCs to undertake port-related activities. The recommendation comes at a time when the ministry is in the process of bidding out 24 projects with an investment of Rs 17,000 crore during the current fiscal.
The standing committee on
transport, tourism and culture, in its report on modernzation of major ports,
has observed, “The ports have strategic naval defence systems within their
periphery, which will be open to monopoly of MNCs who may control ports and
Indian defence secrets will be exposed to foreign countries.”
It has recommended that the
ministry examine the experience and performance of public-private partnership
projects in the port-related works abroad.
The committee has observed
that under the name of privatization, foreign shipping cartels are getting a foothold
in the economic activities of the country. It has said, “It has been propagated
that privatization will introduce competition and will reduce port charges but
in reality, MNCs are charging more terminal-handling charges than major
ports.” The panel said that in some major ports, profit-making services “are
taken over by MNCs leaving behind unremunerative services with the port trust
which may convert the port as loss-making units. This has taken away the job of
thousands of workers in the ports.”
To ensure that major ports
don’t lag behind the privatized non-major ports, the committee has recommended
that the government should lay guidelines to prevent the coming up of any other
port in their vicinity.
Source: TOI 14082011
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