Following a prime mi­nister’s office (PMO) direc­tive, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s (JNPT) will be co­rp­oratised this year. Ship­ping ministry has dusted up the 10-year-old plan and put it on fast track. After JNPT, it will be Mormugao and Tu­ticorin port trusts that will go the corporate way.

“We have to corporatise three ports this financial year. The PMO has already given us directions. Though no final call has been taken on Goa (Mormugao) and Tuticorin, these are the ports most likely to be taken up,” Rakesh Srivastava, joi­nt secretary (ports), said.

Corporatisation of these port trusts will reduce bur­eaucracy and help them take decisions without min­istry’s interference. It wo­u­ld also allow ports better market flexibility in terms of raising money.

“The corporatisation would bring greater flexib­ility. The ports can decide their tariff. Department of public enterprises (DPE) will choose the board of the directors. The government would get dividends also, which is not the case with a trust,” he said.

JNPT had first proposed this idea in the year 2000. It has got itself registered with the registrar of companies under the name of ‘JNPT Ltd’. However, it could not take off due to governmen­t’s unwillingness. The del­ay has made JNPT officials little wary of government’s decisions. “We have made presentations in 2000, 2006, 2009 and now it is 2010. This would be the fo­urth time. It is not in JNPT board’s hands. The govern­ment needs to take a call. It is going to be a long pr­ocedure as there are many issues related to change in board, employees resistan­ce,” a senior JNPT official, who did not want to be named, said.

JNPT has been one of the good performers among major ports. The port car­ried 21,314 tonnes cargo during April 2010 to July 2010 as against 19,989 tonne last year — an over six per cent increase in traffic. The port also has over Rs 2,000 crore projects to be awarded on PPP basis.

“We are looking at major expansion of the port. Be­sides PPP, we are also going to add various facilities su­ch as a seamen’s club for ships’ crew, Rs 129 crore world class parking plazas, a six-lane road with Nati­onal Highways Developme­nt Authority (NHAI). The only thing is that every decision related to the port has to be taken by the go­vernment. With corporatis­ation, that would be gone,” N N Kumar, who assumed cha­irmanship of JNPT told Fi­nancial Chronicle.