Mumbai Eastern Seafront:Central Government Committee

With the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) and the Maharashtra government at loggerheads over opening up of port land for development, the Central government has formed a new committee to sort out the issue, thereby overriding the committee formed by the state last year.
The Ministry of Shipping has issued a notification recently, constituting a standing committee of 11 members to sort out various issues of Mumbai port vis-à-vis development of Mumbai city. The panel would have six representatives of Central government and the port — secretary, Ministry of Shipping (as its convenor); chairperson, MbPT (member); deputy chairperson, MbPT (member); Chief Operations Manager, Central Railway (member); joint secretary (ports) and chief engineer, MbPT (member-secretary).
The committee would also include five state government officials — the chief secretary; additional chief secretary, urban development; principal secretary (transport and excise), Home department; Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai and Metropolitan Commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), all as members.
The terms of reference include discussing issues of common interest to both the MbPT and Mumbai city, facilitating prompt approvals for smooth implementation of various infrastructure development projects of the port and the city, implementing state government schemes with regard to rehabilitation of slum dwellers and project affected people through state agencies.
The constitution of the committee by the Central government is an answer to the state government’s seven-member standing committee that included just one representative of the port — the chairperson of the MbPT. The state’s panel was formed on December 12, 2007 after the visit of Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to Mumbai on August 23, 2007. The state’s committee comprised the chief secretary (as the chairman); additional chief secretary, urban development; chairperson, MbPT; principal secretary, transport; Mumbai’s municipal commissioner; MMRDA’s metropolitan commissioner and secretary, special projects (all as members).
The state committee had called its first meeting about three months ago, but port officials ignored it on grounds that they worked under the Ministry of Shipping and would not attend a meeting called by the state government. The MbPT had subsequently sought the intervention of the Central government in the matter. “We were waiting for the Ministry of Shipping to form the committee and now we are waiting for them to call the meeting,” a senior state government official said, pointing out that there were several issues that required to be sorted out between the MbPT and the state government.
The state wants the port to open up its surplus land on the eastern waterfront for development, while the MbPT has said it does not have surplus land. The state is also opposed to the expansion plans of the port on grounds that it would worsen traffic congestion in the city.
“We were waiting for the committee to be constituted. We are now waiting for the shipping ministry to call a meeting of the committee so that the contentious matters can be discussed,” a senior port official said.
The MbPT, which cannot handle large ships due to outdated infrastructure, has initiated several projects to increase its activities. They include doubling of the existing capacity of the port at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore — from about 52 million tonnes of cargo to about 84 million tonnes by 2013-14, constructing an offshore container terminal (estimated to cost Rs 1,228 crore), redeveloping four berths along the harbour wall (Rs 353 crore), constructing second chemical berth (Rs 116 crore), constructing an international cruise terminal (Rs 152 crore), constructing a new oil terminal (Rs 150 crore) and redeveloping two berths at Ballard Pier (Rs 150 crore).
The MbPT owns 724.33 hectares of land, out of which 401.42 hectares is used for port operations, 296.66 hectares are leased out and 26.25 hectares is earmarked for reservations and encroached by slums.
In September 2007, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had publicly supported MbPT’s expansion plans on grounds that the port had played a major role in the economic development of the city, the state and the country. He had asked land sharks to construct buildings on salt pans, instead.
The 134-year-old MbPT’s Indira Dock has a shallow draft (depth) of 10.7 metres which is inadequate for docking of large ships. The port is also facing tough competition from the Jawaharlal Nehru port (where the draft is 12 m) and the under-construction Rewas port (which is a private port), which is likely to open with a draft of 13 m that would be later deepened to 18 m.