The UPA government?s flagship plan for the ports and shipping sector?National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP)?is in troubled waters. While the NMDP envisaged Rs 55,000 crore investments to upgrade the country?s 12 major ports by 2012, only 101 of the 276 projects under the plan have got off the ground till date.

According to the Shipping ministry led by DMK leader T R Baalu, 36 NMDP projects are already complete while 65 are under construction. While 29 projects are at different stages of approval, the ministry is redesigning another 29 projects that had to be dropped as they were not considered feasible and didn?t evince any investor interest. This means that work is yet to begin on bidding out the 117 other projects under NMDP.

?In all, projects worth Rs 20,000 crore are currently underway. This makes up for 50% of the projects by physical number and 40% of the projects in terms of investment,? said a top shipping ministry official. He however expressed hope that the development under NMDP will be complete by 2012.

NMDP focuses on dredging, equipment and berth development, which is being done on public-private partnership basis. On the response from private players to NMDP projects, he said, ?These projects have found a lot of interest from the private players. Recently, 22 applicants have evinced interest in development of container terminal at the Ennore port.?

?Private sector enthusiasm is also attributed to model concession agreement, which prescribes the guidelines for awarding the projects, in February this year. All the ports have been issued the new guidelines to be followed for awarding the projects,? he added.

During the current financial year, the department plans to give out 10 berths. Two of these are expected to come up at Paradip for iron ore and coal, while another two are proposed at Vizag for liquid and dry bulk cargo. Meanwhile, the Public-Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPAC), in October this year, approved two port projects worth Rs 1,008 crore. The two projects?a Rs 467 crore deep drought coal berth and a Rs 541 crore deep drought iron ore berth? will come up at the Paradip port on a build-operate and transfer basis. The port serves the hinterland spread over the states of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

As per the PPPAC , cargo handling at the major ports is projected to see a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7% till 2011-12.