Delightful Achievements

First Port Of Call

Gujarat was the first state to privatise port construction and to formulate a Port Policy ,which integrated the development of ports with industrial and infrastructural advancement,and power generation. The policy drew a Build Own Operate Transfer(BOOT) principle fron an innovative Public Private Partnership(PPP) model. Gujarat Pipavav Port at Pipavav,in Saurashtra ,and Gujarat Adani Port at Mundra ,in Kutch,were the country's first greenfield Ports to have been developed on this basis.

Pipavav Port,India's first port built on the PPP model,was promoted by entrepreneur Nikhil Gandhi,who incorporated the venture as Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd(GPPL) way back in August 1992. The naturally protected multi-user port ,situated between Veraval and Alang,commenced general cargo handling operations in November 1996 and container handling activities in April 1998. It was the country's second modern port to be devoloped in a totally planned manner,the first having been Jawaharlal Nehru Port(JNP) AT Nhava-Sheva across the Mumbai harbour.APM Terminals,part of Denmark's A.P Møller Mærsk group,took management control of GPPL in March 2005.

The Essar group is another significant port operator in Gujarat.It is planning to expand the 30 mt dry bulk and break bulk cargo handling capacity of its all-weather deep-draft port at Hazira to 50 mt. Its other port in Gujarat,in Vadinar in Saurashtra, is also an all-weather deep-draft port,for crude oil for its redinery,with a capacity of 58 mt.

"Careftl planning and execution have ensured that the capacity o Gujarat's ports corresponds to the rise in traffic," assert7 Gujarat Maritime Board's Pankaj Kumar."Gujarat's Success would not have been posrible but for the far-sighted policies announced by the state from time to time."

source: Business India