The government has conceded that the country’s defence public sector shipyards have lost out to private players on the construction of a number of naval vessels in the recent times.
In a written reply to questions in Parliament, defence minister AK Antony said the defence shipyards have cited higher wages for its workers and time overruns for procurement of material for ship construction as reasons for increased cost of shipbuilding.
The contracts for which the private shipyards have scored over the defence shipyards included naval offshore patrol vessels, barges, hovercraft, fast patrol vessels, interceptor boars, cadet training ships and fast interceptor craft.
?The defence shipyard have indicated that major reasons of losing out are higher wage rates for the labour and, thereby, an increase in overheads, and longer time taken to procure the materials by observing the laid down procedures, thus pushing up their prices,? said the minister.
For indigenously building ships and other naval craft, the defence shipyards are, in accordance with the defence procurement procedure, 2011, awarded some contracts on nomination basis, while other contracts are awarded on competitive basis.
To enhance their competitive edge in the future, measures are being taken, including modernisation of the defence shipyards with state-of-the-art facilities and introducing modern integrated construction methodology, strengthening of design and production facilities, and induction of manpower, both at the skilled worker and management levels.
Responding to another question, Antony told the House that Indian Navy has the experience in successfully designing difference classes of warships.
?The experience has enabled the Indian Navy to embark upon the design and construction of the indigenous aircraft carrier at Cochin Shipyard, Kochi,” he said. He said that the Indian Navy has sought inputs from abroad in specialised areas of design, such as the propulsion system integration and aviation facilities complex.
The government accorded sanction in January 2003 for the construction of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier in CSL and work on it is under wayd there.