Profit-making public sector units in the country would not be privatised, Union minister for shipping, road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said on Friday. He was speaking after performing the ground breaking ceremony for setting up a Rs 970-crore international ship repair facility (ISRF) for the profit-making Cochin Shipyard (CSL). The facility is being built at Cochin Port Trust, where CSL has leased out 40 acres for developing the project. The minister also promised land for CSL in other part of the country for expansion. “We have 12 bigger ports. When I took the charge as the minister, in the first year our profit was Rs 3,000 crore, second year it was Rs 4,000 crore and third year, it was Rs 5,000 crore, and this year, we are expecting Rs 7,000 crore,” Gadkari said. ISRF was approved by the Centre in May 2016 and thereby doubling the number of ships that can be repaired per year. CSL had gone public in April 2017 raising Rs 1,470 crore to finance its expansion plans.
Nitin Gadkari: Privatisation of profit-making PSUs unlikely
The facility is being built at Cochin Port Trust, where CSL has leased out 40 acres for developing the project. The minister also promised land for CSL in other part of the country for expansion.
Kochi
