According to R Vasudevan, secretary of MoST, the committee will have representatives from Port Trusts and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. "The basic idea is to prepare a ground work for corporatisation of the ports", he said. The annual report of the ports does not reflect the profit as the ports are constituted as `Trusts'. "There is no proper motivation to encourage the ports for better performance", he added.

According to Vasudevan, the ministry is in the process of seeking cabinet nod for turning the ports into corporate entities. Initially, the ports will be given the option to streamline their accounts on commercial lines.

Later on, the ports will gradually be accorded the status of a corporate body. The government has already agreed for corporatisation of the Ennore Port located near Chennai.

Earlier, speaking on theoccasion of handing over of a survey vessel from government of the Netherlands to Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), Vasudevan said that the project under which the vessel is being granted to the port can be extended to Cochin, Calcutta and New Mangalore Port Trusts.

The Ambassador of the Netherlands, JHJ Jeurissen emphasised on the need of having good infrastructure by stating that development of transportation goes hand-in-hand with economic development.

While stressing on the uplift of dock labourers, trustee, and MbPT, All India Port & Dock Workers' Federation president SR Kulkarni urged the government to sanction Rs 39 crore for welfare of the past and present MbPT employees.

He also asked the surface transport ministry to consider merger of MbPT with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust to whom the former has granted Rs 500 crore loan.

Referring to the P&O's Vadhvan port, Kulkarni urged for a coordinated policy on major ports so that over-capacities do not adversely affect the major ports.