The Shipping Ministry has given a boost to port projects. It has awarded 49 port projects having an investment of Rs 8,341 crore. It is expected to make capacity addition of 104 MT. This is against a target of capacity augmentation of102 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Indian coast has 12 major ports including Mumbai, JNPT, V O Chidambaranar, Marmugao, Kandla, New Mangalore, Chennai, Ennore, Cochin, Paradip, Kolkata  and Visakhapatnam. These ports handle more than 60% of India’s total cargo traffic.

Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said, "In respect of development of port infrastructure, 49 projects have been awarded with a capacity of 103.52 MTPA against a target of 102 MTPA with an investment of Rs 8,341.12 crore during the last fiscal,"  while speaking to PTI.

He further added that, "Major ports capacity during 2015-16 was 965.36 MTPA. This crossed 1,065 MTPA during 2016-17."

He revealed that efforts to improve port infrastructure have seen the capacity addition of 100.59 MT in major ports in last fiscal.

These ports have shown a major annual growth in cargo handling compared with 2015-16.

These projects allocation will certainly result in a major capacity addition to existing cargo handling infrastructure in Indian ports.